Learn to Love
by CagedButtercup
Summary: Space/Future AU. When Commander Duval is assigned to protect Jeff Sterling, the son of a nobleman, he doesn't realise just how big this mission is, but soon it's down to him and the crew of his ship, the Warbler, to save the galaxy. Now if only he can avoid falling in love...
1. Chapter 1

"Commander Duval!" the voice blared through the ship's intercom.

"Go away Trent." Nick Duval grumbled from his exceedingly comfy bed.

"No can do Sir, we're receiving an urgent request to return to Earth."

The dark haired male blearily rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"From the council?"

"Yeah, they won't tell us what it is though. Throw your onesie on and get up. What kind of senior officer are you Nick, sleeping in till noon?"

"It's NOT a onesie! It's standard issue military wear!" Duval grumbled as he hopped on one leg trying to slide on the pale grey and white garment. It looked much like the suits race car drivers and astronauts used to wear, with a patch indicating his rank sewn to the left arm and an uncomfortable Velcro clasp around the neck which Nick's tired fingers fumbled with multiple times. Sliding on his white slip on trainers he held his hand up to the sensor and shuffled out the door, straightening his shoulders and becoming more alert with every step.

"You need a shave Nick, and a hairbrush. Maybe a mirror too?" the pilot snarked as the commander strode in.

"Morning to you too," Nick chuckled, unbothered by the sass, his smile hiding under the untidy dark brown hair hanging over his face, his hair had grown to his shoulders in the last month they'd been patrolling the solar system and he'd be the first to admit he needed it cut.

"Well after more than four weeks we're finally heading home, yay paperwork and tedious politics." Lieutenant David Akanu clapped them both on the shoulders as he entered the room before throwing himself in the navigator's chair to the left of the pilot's chair Trent was currently occupying.

"ETA 39 minutes." Trent announced.

"Cheer up David, this will probably be a routine visit, then it'll be back to shootouts on Neptune and Trent wetting himself as we fly through an asteroid belt before you know it! You two behave yourselves while I go check on the crew." Nick winked at them.

"How come I have to call you Lieutenant Akanu and Nick just calls you David?" Trent pouted.

"Because he's my commanding officer and you're just irritating! Now let's make sure we get the re entry position right for the ship."

"Most people find my irritating-ness cute!" Trent pouted as he tilted the levers he was holding and the ship veered to avoid a small rock.  
_

* * *

The ship was done out with a cold colour palette, stark grey and clinical white hallways lit by the blue glow of door panels and screens. In front of one such screen sat one of the mechanics, known only as Wes. Any attempts to determine his full name always hit a dead end, but most of the older generation of spacers in a bar on Mars Nick frequented during the (boring!) action free stints of his patrol claimed to remember a vicious pirate named Wesley from 50 years ago, his reach extending from Pluto to Saturn. When asked for a description the grizzly veterans had slurped up the rest of their drink and described Wes perfectly,from the lightly tanned skin and carefully ruffled inky black hair, to his charming smile and addiction to weird tablets, right down to the small circular scar on his wrist. The eeriest thing? Wes had been working for the military for the last 30 years and yet was still a teenager.

Whatever his past, and unusual longevity, Wes was a valued member of the team and Nick usually enjoyed listening to his animated discussions about mechanical things aboard the ship.

Today he looked frustrated, deep creases in his brow and tapping a spanner on the top of one of the engine control units.

"Problem?" Nick asked, slightly disturbed to see the normally cheerful man so angry.

"Unit's refusing to send more than 30% power to engine 5, don't get me started on the air conditioning in the crew's quarters, and I'm out of multivitamin tablets."

"That does tend to happen when you go through 3 a day. Anything I can do to help?"

"Leave." the technician growled and a chill ran down Nick's spine as the mechanic's dark eyes flashed.

A buzzing sound echoed from the ceiling before the husky voice of the Captain rasped through the intercom.

"Commander Duval, report to my office immediately."

Nick sighed, but was inwardly slightly relieved to have an excuse to flee from Wes.  
_

* * *

Nick slid into the seat in front of the large oak desk behind which his commanding officer reclined in a huge cushy black leather chair.

Captain Smythe was the only person on this ship who outranked Nick, and since the captain on his previous ship tended to keep a hands off approach, Nick had become accustomed to being in charge and rarely seeing the captain. Then he was... hastily transferred to this ship, Warbler II after...that incident.

"Hey, so I made reservations for this sweet hotel in London, top floor of the observatory," the Captain smirked, "Problem is, I 'accidentally' booked it for two, maybe you could help me out?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea captain."

"Call me Sebastian," he leaned on the desk casually, looking into Nick's dark brown eyes.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea Captain. It seems unprofessional."

"Why don't you like me? I'm rich, good looking, charming," he flashed his perfect white teeth at the commander, "and I'm offering myself up on a plate here. Most people give in within a week of me pestering them, it's been a month and still you won't budge."

Nick cleared his throat and resolutely avoided looking in those jokey puppy dog eyes.

"Never mind, we're done here." Sebastian sighed.

On his way out Nick remembered the transmission from Earth.

"Sir you don't know why we're here do you?"

"Urgh, I've been assured its a fleeting stay before we're allowed to leave again. Some sort of witness protection thing. I can't be bothered to leave the ship so you deal with it."

"Yes sir," Nick sighed.  
_

* * *

After America, Russia and China annihilated each other in the Great Global Power Struggle of the 2150's, and the collapse of the EU following just a few years later, only four countries (the ones who'd been smart enough to stay out of the war and pull out of the EU) survived with the resources and economy to remain a global power. Iceland kept itself to itself, closed its borders and became fully self sufficient. Norway chose a similar tactic, Australia too. The UK however, didn't. Within six months of the EU's collapse the population tripled. Huge shanty towns swelled around London and Birmingham, whilst Southampton became overrun with boats from France filled with the diseased, homeless, jobless people. whilst some of these were snapped up to add to the huge military, naval and airforce the UK was now famous for, most were too old, too weak, too unfit in some way to serve.

Spotting an opportunity factory owners flourished, providing the workers with a pittance in wages, but food and a roof over their heads. 8' by 8'6 freight containers stacked on top of each other, connected by metal fire escapes, became the main form of housing for the immigrants. It was in one of these boxes Nick stood (more like stooped really) five miles out from the centre of London, where he was due in five minutes.

"Nick! I haven't heard from you in so long." his father rasped, his sunken dark brown eyes shining, as he anxiously twisted the loose ring on his right index finger and grasped Nick's shoulder with a bony arm.

"I'm sorry, I've been really busy, my patrol route is right on the outer rim of the galaxy." Nick glanced at the cramped space illuminated only by a single light bulb. The toilet and sink were behind a moth eaten curtain, and the commander currently sat at the only chair next to a small rickety table. His father perched on the end of his narrow bed, next to piles of novels, magazines and newspapers.

"I brought you a new book." Just the type his father liked, with a submarine on the cover, a clean cut square jawed protagonist and one of those "will he/won't he win against the villain?" plots that always led to a happy ending - the hero riding off into the sunset with his personality-lacking girl. Nick hated those books so much.

"You're a good kid you know Nick, the best thing to come from leaving America was meeting your mother and having you. She'd be so proud of you."

Nick avoided his father's gaze, because he knew it would be filled with admiration he didn't deserve.

"You're late." the councillor observed, his pale blue silk robes flowing in the breeze.

"I had to make a stop at the suburbs. Sorry." Nick's tone was anything but repentant, but the councillor seemed oblivious.

"Kurt!" he beckoned to a young serving boy, who was deep in conversation with a young man who could only be the councillor's son, with the same curly black hair and strong face structure as the older noble.

Kurt scurried over,

"Councillor Anderson?"

"Bring Jeff here now."


	2. Chapter 2

Jeff Sterling was always a good boy, the perfect child. From a young age he kept his hair neatly combed, his clothes clean and avoided uncouth things the other boys his age liked, like playing in the mud. When the UK government decided to repopulate the continent of North America (under their control of course, and solving the overcrowding problem at the same time) and his father was chosen as one of the ten to lead the New America, Jeff didn't complain. Not even when he didn't get to say goodbye to his friends, or on the long flight. Jeff never complained.

His father approved of this behaviour. Ambassador Sterling was a hard man, his steely grey eyes set under close cropped brown hair. Where other councillors wore flowing robes of pastel colours, Carl Sterling wore dark grey. The man was devoted to his position. Filled with a zealous fervour, he campaigned for the banning of homosexual behaviour in public, successfully dismantling gay marriage and the rights of females and gay men to be in the armed forces of the New American Republic. Despite this he claimed to hold no prejudice, insisting that he only wanted what was best for the public. After all, with such a small group being sent out to repopulate America, wasn't it a public duty to have children, and make the new America better?

As Jeff grew up, a new town was built around the colony. First up was the huge, glittering green glass obelisk known as the Embassy, where the Ten convened to rule, serving only under a government hundreds of miles away with other concerns, the Ten's word became law. New America became home. The next building to go up was the school, made of red bricks baked in the furnaces of Mr Young. Jeff helped carry them to the bricklayers in the hot afternoons, his blonde hair plastered to his forehead, at ten years old he was pale and thin, easily tired out. Sometimes if he got too hot he could feel his heart beating in his chest and felt like he would pass out, so he walked slow. Then he would get told off by his father for being weak. He could never win. Never.

"Useless!" His father roared, "you make me look bad!"

Useless. Jeff felt like the word was seared onto him.

The town grew and grew as more settlers arrived and was christened the town of Hope. Rows of houses surrounded by white picket fences. In a few months the scarred wasteland on which they'd built the first city of New America was transformed into verdant pastures and long undulating grassy hills and fields. Jeff even managed to make a few friends, but he kept them at a distance. Sometimes he'd find himself watching his friends out the corner of his eyes, wondering what if I were normal like you? What if I was happy and I had a normal family I could take you home to meet. Would we be closer friends? What do you see in me? I'm an awful friend. Then his thoughts would leave his body as a sigh, an almost silent exhale of longing, exasperation and disappointment.

"What's wrong?" The girl next to him (Mary? Maria?) asks.

Useless. Blink. Collect his thoughts. Smile.

"Nothing." Jeff smiled.

Useless.

A few years later Jeff found himself in front of a mirror above the sink in the pristine white school shower room and actually looked at himself. He tried to see himself as others saw him. At thirteen years old he was lanky and tall for his age, still pale, and had a distinctly fragile look about him. His hands tugged at that stupid blonde hair, the awful yellow that he'd inherited from a woman who'd died minutes after he was born, it made him stand out and Jeff just wanted to be NORMAL.

Jeff screamed as he lashed out at the reflection.

"Are you okay?" came a timid voice behind him. Jeff turned to see a boy with brown hair and pretty blue eyes looking at him and felt his face heat up in 's another thing Jeff hated about himself, how easily his skin blushed. He'd never spoken to Eric Young before but now the boy must think Jeff was a total weirdo.

Eric smiled tentatively at Jeff before edging closer to him and helping him wash the blood off his hand. Eric bandaged it with gauze from the first aid kit on the wall.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you do that?"

Well, he'd already ruined any chance of friendship with this boy, Jeff thought he may as well tell Eric the whole story.

Eric understood. Jeff struggled to finish his tale, waiting for the other boy to leave, but the Young boy didn't. Eric stayed till the end, and then gave the pale blonde a hug. That is how two teenagers began a long friendship.

* * *

At fifteen Jeff was asked out for the first time. He rejected her. Over the next year a few more offers came his way from the opposite sex but the answer was always the same. Girls just didn't interest him. It wasn't that he hated girls (if he went clothes shopping the first two people he'd call were his friends Maria and Julia) he liked hanging out with them, he just didn't feel comfortable with the idea of dating one. Then one day a girl he turned down called him out, suggested there was something wrong with him and 'did he think he was better than them?' and Jeff croaked apologies from a dry throat as his stomach churned with unease. What if she was right?

As usual Jeff retreated to the bathroom to worry about what was wrong with him. Already he was working himself up into a state, sweating profusely as he gripped the sink and looked into the mirror.

"Uh oh, what's up marigold?" Eric walked in and wrapped an arm around Jeff's shoulder. It made him feel safer and Jeff took deep breaths, calming down.

"marigold?" he asked weakly

"Because of your hair, it's the same colour as those flowers by the school, get it?"

"That's a crap nickname." Jeff laughed, feeling better now. Gradually he forgot about the incident.

* * *

At seventeen Jeff and Eric were nominated co-captains of the basketball team. By now there were eighteen small towns like Hope in New America. A league tournament was built up and Jeff and Eric's team competed, making it to the finals...

"Three minutes to go!" the referee hollered.

Jeff pelted across the Tarmac, bouncing the ball rapidly off the ground. Like a yellow flash he flew through the field before leaping and slamming the ball through the hoop.

24 - 24 with two minutes to go now. Jeff looked pointedly over to Eric, who nodded in understanding and subtly moved further outfield to the left, making himself as unobtrusive as possible whilst Jeff and the rest of the team shouted and ran, frantically trying to get the ball. Eric was at the opposing team's goal now, but all the action was in his own team's half.

"C'mon Jeff!" he pleaded under his breath, tapping his feet impatiently.

Jeff saw his chance and took it, slapping the ball from just beneath the outstretched palm of the opposing team captain's palm. His name was Finn and he was stocky, well built, with excellent grades and a career in the Space Military all planned out for him. He didn't take kindly to a scrawny kid with weird hair besting him and as Jeff turned Finn lunged to tackle him.

"Jeff! Now!" Eric yelled and Jeff threw the basketball over his head with as much force as he could muster. Eric caught it with the tips of his fingers, pivoted and made the shot.

There was a hush as the ball fell through the hoop. The horn sounded a few seconds later and the room erupted into cheering, hoisting Eric and Jeff onto their shoulders and carrying the pair off the pitch.

The friends grinned at each other and clasped hands.

"That was one hell of a shot Eric,"

"Couldn't have done it without you," Eric replied, blue eyes twinkling.

* * *

Walking home after the game it was pouring down with rain, but Jeff was still flying high, enjoying the feeling of cold after all that exercise. Grinning from ear to ear, he didn't notice the boy in the green and black vest and shorts of the opposing team until it was too late.

"Oh it's you, hey Finn." Jeff forced a laugh, eyes darting round for another person. No luck.

"You beat me today."

"Yeah well I guess I got lucky-" Finn grabbed the front of Jeff's grey t-shirt and slammed him against the red brick wall of a house and leaned in eye to eye until they were so close a drop of rainwater dripped from Finn's nose and landed on Jeff's.

"I don't like losing. Especially not to a pretty boy like you. You on drugs? Is that it? Did you cheat? Tell me how you won!"

A familiar figure stepped up behind Finn and threw him down on to the sodden grass.

"Don't touch him." Eric snarled.

Eric was almost as well built as Finn, and reassessing his chances, eventually Finn decided to run off.

"Are you okay?" Jeff asked as Eric walked over.

"Me? Worry about yourself for a change!" Eric ran a hand through Jeff's normally pristine hair, soaked and plastered to his forehead. "Are you mad walking home in this? Why didn't you ask for a lift? You'll catch your death in this rain."

Feeling his cheeks warm in embarrassment Jeff muttered about not wanting to be a bother. Sighing, the blue eyed boy pulled his friend by the elbow to his car. Eric loved his car, a sleek streamlined sporty thing with only two seats that hovered three inches off the ground, running on compressed air. Pressing a button on his key to unlock it, he opened the passenger door and helped Jeff slide in before he closed it and got in on the driver's side.

The heaters on max, Eric sped away, casting anxious glances at the pale boy to his right.

"You ok?"

"You drive like a maniac," Jeff muttered disapprovingly.

"Pfft, you're no fun!" Eric smirked, cackling as he turned the joysticks sharply and the car drifted round the corner.

Eventually they pulled up outside the flat Jeff's father paid for him to live in.

"Thanks," Jeff said haltingly, feeling uncomfortable in the small cabin, lit with a moody red glow from the instruments and dials. He'd never realised how close the seats were. His hand was just centimetres from his friends. He'd held that hand today. Jeff did his best to avoid looking at Eric, who was now facing him, his thigh brushing Jeff's fingers. Okay, now Jeff felt really weird, his heart was pounding so loudly in his chest he was surprised Eric couldn't hear it. His eyes accidentally caught Eric's and then he was held there by their intensity. So deep, and such a lovely shade of sky blue. Unconsciously, he leaned in. He'd never noticed Eric had faint freckles on the bridge of his nose. And his skin, Jeff wished his skin was that tanned, it radiated healthiness, and the closer Eric leaned in the more Jeff could smell a faint hint of vanilla in the air.

"Eric?"

His friend placed a hand on Jeff's cheek and pulled him in, covering Jeff's mouth with his. For a moment Jeff was lost in bliss as everything fell into place.

Then Eric pushed him away. "I'm sorry, that shouldn't have happened, I told myself I would control myself."

"How long have you felt like this about me?"

"Since the first time we talked, when you'd punched that mirror. I looked at you and pretty much realised I was attracted to you on the spot. Obviously I realised that wasn't a good thing, what with your dad and all. God, I'm such an idiot! You probably think I'm a total creep now." Eric held his face in his hands.

"Don't be silly, I would never have known if you hadn't done that."

"Known what?"

"That I'm gay too." Jeff placed his hand in Eric's and smiled at him, feeling butterflies in his stomach from their touch. This time Eric's lips were more passionate as they pressed against Jeff's soft mouth. His tongue slipped between Jeff's teeth and Jeff rolled onto Eric's lap, running his fingers through that gorgeous brown hair. Jeff didn't know if the loud noise he could hear was the sound of the rain hitting the car windows or the blood rushing through his ears as Eric caught Jeff's bottom lip with his teeth and Jeff shyly stroked his best friend's cheek with his long pale fingers. Finally they broke apart for air.

"Well that was unexpected," Eric chuckled, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow? Ill pick you up for school at 7?"

"Sounds good to me," Jeff gasped, stumbling out of the low car and looking back to watch it whoosh away before staggering inside his spartan flat and collapsing onto the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Though they were careful to keep their true nature of their relationship secret, there are only a few times you can disappear with your friend into a storage closet before Maria starts giving you knowing winks and referring to the pair of you as Jeric. Jeff's relationship was both the greatest thing to ever happen to him and a source of great worry. Some nights he lay awake and worried what would happen if his father found out. The father and son only saw each other once a week but It was only a matter of time... hopefully when the time came Jeff would take his boyfriend round to his father's office for their weekly Sunday dinner and be honest with him. One day.

"Jeff!" Eric jogged out of the school towards him, his detention finished at last.

"Hey," the blonde removed his hands from his pockets and once they were a safe distance from the school, they climbed over a stile into a field filled with wild flowers and Eric sat behind Jeff, wrapping his warm muscular arms and comforting scent around him. Jeff rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder and snuggled in, content. Until Eric started snickering, his breath tickling Jeff.

"what's so funny?"

"Of all the place to sit in the field you pick this spot. Look around."

Jeff didn't understand for a moment, then identified the patch of golden flowers surrounding them.

"Marigolds..." he laughed himself then, "it's a sign. It has to be."

"I'm not sure horticultural psychics are in demand Jeff, but I know what you mean. I feel safe here. Maybe it's because my little marigold is here to protect me from the big bad hay-fever."

"That's why I always carry anti-histamine around," Jeff smiled.

The sun set, In what seemed like minutes but must have been many hours later, and the two walked back through the field holding hands, before Eric gave Jeff a peck on the cheek and sauntered off whistling as the two split up when they re-entered the city. After all, in Hope everyone knew everyone, the two had to be very careful to keep their relationship from the Ten. Councillor Sterling had made it expressly clear that homosexuality was temporarily illegal, gay rights suspended until New America's population was stable.

So why did Jeff feel so sad watching Eric walk away when Jeff knew he'd be there tomorrow in his sports car at seven like usual?

* * *

Eric didn't turn up at seven. Eric didn't answer his phone. Eric didn't turn up at all. By eight a very annoyed Jeff gave up and walked to school. When he got there the atmosphere hit Jeff. Normally the school was abuzz with chatter, a sea of noise and laughs. Today it was dead. Hushed whispers that ceased as Jeff walked past, and sympathetic glances. Swallowing to try and make his throat less dry did little to quell the tightness beginning to constrict in his chest.

Maria walked over like a zombie, her eyes red rimmed and puffy.

"I'm so sorry Jeff."

"What's wrong? Is it Eric? Is he hurt?"

"You don't know? His dad, he...he must've left the ovens on overnight. The whole house was, was burned down. I'm so sorry Jeff. He didn't make it."

Jeff turned and ran. He ran back through the crowds of mourning children on the hot Tarmac, he kept running as he vaulted the fence and ran through the pavements under the hot sun, refusing to stop when his body began to protest. Eventually he came to where Eric's house...was.

For a few moments Jeff simply stared, before walking inside the middle of the piles of ash and small mountains of debris, touching one of the charred internal walls, hoping the house would regrow around him. Eventually the silence got through to Jeff and he fell to his knees and howled until his throat was hoarse.

He had no idea when it was that Maria took him home that night, helped him wash his face and tucked him into bed. He had no recollection of even leaving the scene of the fire.

* * *

Time passed, and the sharp unbearable pain in Jeff's chest dulled to a hollow ache. In the next few years he had several boyfriends, but rarely did they last longer than a month or two. They were nice enough people just missing something, a spark, a bit of danger. Wherever it was he and Eric had, he'd never managed to recapture it. He'd lost both his best friend and his boyfriend, and on the morning of his 21st birthday, when he answered his father's summons he knew that he was in trouble.

Had he been caught by his father? It wasn't Sunday, and he doubted Carl Sterling even knew it was his birthday. The fact he was called here could only mean trouble.

The elevator shot up, and through the green glass walls Jeff watched people and cars become small, smaller, and then like ants. High up he could see only the spires of the few skyscrapers beginning to appear in Hope. High tech living was coming to New America soon hopefully, no more living like its the 23rd century. They would be joining the rest of the world in the 28th, though that would eventually mean the loss of all the greenery, the fields and flowers.

Finally the elevator pinged and the doors opened out into a circular room with glass curved walls on the left showing a large circular balcony surrounded them outside. They were inside the spire.

Jeff was ushered into a small waiting room by a serving boy who closed the door gently after Jeff and then scurried away. The room was square, with dark green walls and a dark wooden floor. Mahogany chairs were arranged in rows facing a carved wooden clock hung on the wall, whilst exotic plants stood by the window, casting a green hue in the room. Only one chair was occupied.

"Good morning," Jeff greeted his father formally.

"You leave in ten minutes. I've already sent someone and they've packed you a suitcase of essentials." The ambassador ordered.

"Why?" Jeff retorted and his elder stopped to look at him, Jeff never spoke back.

"There's been word that since my enemies can't get hold of me, they may use you to get to me. We're hiding you in the the galaxy disguised as a space marine. Be careful." Mr Sterling warned before sweeping out of the room.

Jeff tapped his feet impatiently, picking at the hole in the knee of his ripped jeans. The flight from Hope to London had taken hours, and he was shattered, annoyed at being pulled away from his old life and shoved into this new one in the space of a day, this was probably the worst birthday ever. He hadn't even been allowed to explore, just locked in a room full of hard benches by an apologetic boy named Kurt. Eventually Kurt came back and silently took him to a room that lead to some stairs

"Hey Jeff," called a vaguely familiar voice, and Jeff nodded and smiled at Blaine, the son of one of the Councillors of London. Kurt lead him through this room and up the stairs to the roof.

Sitting on the roof was the largest vehicle Jeff had ever seen. Painted a matte grey, and lacking a single curve it looked mean, with the Union Jack on the door and the red lion above three pale silver chevrons of the UK space military. (or spacers as they were known colloquially) It was at least three times as tall as Jeff, and god knows how many long and wide, and Jeff wasn't exactly small. Jeff had never seen any vehicle other than cars and buses before, let alone one of the elite starships of the UK space marines He stared at the angular space ship in awe, running a finger along the edge of one of the thin tapering wings.

Councillor Anderson cleared his thought and the blonde jumped in surprise, before smoothing his blazer. He wished he'd brought a mirror with him - he bet his hair looked awful.

"Master Sterling, this is Commander Duval of the Warbler II. Commander this is Junior Ambassador Sterling."

The commander had shaggy dark brown hair to his shoulders, a strong, sharp jawline and a dimple in his cheek when he smiled.

"Call me Nick,"

"Jeff," the young man gasped as he felt it when he grasped the other man's hand.

A spark.

* * *

Sorry if this chapter bored you a little, It was necessary to get the backstory all set up. Thank you for reading this far :)


	3. Chapter 3

_Run._

Rachel ran.

_If I stop I die. Got to keep going. _

Wincing as her barefoot flew across the rocky floor of the woods, flailing arms smashing through vegetation and the sounds of her pursuers behind.

_Keep. Going. Find help._

_I'm gonna make it, Im losing them!_

Rachel put on a final burst of speed and leaped over a barbed wire fence, hurriedly ripping shreds from her trousers as they were caught, as the muddy ground became solid rock and the trees disappeared. An exit?

"Ah hell."

Fortunately stopping just in time to avoid toppling over the sheer precipice, the girl looked down into the black water, unfathomably deep, weighing her chances. Two men stepped onto the rocks, the cybernetic metal feet of the man on the right clicking on the black stone.

"Rachel."

"Sam, Artie." She addreshed her pursuers. Sam was a handsome blond man wearing dark sunglasses. Artie was the repaired victim of a car bomb accident a few years back , his cybernetic metal arm tapering to a clawed hand, those two metal legs leading to bladed feet.

"Your sister misses you."

Rachel took a subtle step back.

"Well, she can wait a little longer." with that she flung herself backwards speeding towards the water and crying out as she hit the water hard, dragged around by the rushing current, and struggling to stay afloat. Rocks appeared almost immediately before her head made contact with it and Rachel felt blood trickling down her face before she passed out.

"Do you think she's dead?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Nah, she can take more punishment than other humans. Quinn is going to be so pissed at us though."

"Well, Rachel can't run forever."

* * *

David slouched around town, idly observing the clothes in the windows.

"I wonder if I'd look good in a blazer?" He pondered, remembering Jeff's fashionable black jacket.

"Nah," he decided.

Lieutenant David Akanu hated shore leave, no matter how short it was. He left the orphanage six years ago, aged 16, and never looked back. No family, no friends outside the Warbler. Thankfully he won't be here long, no need to spend tonight in a cheap motel staring at the ceiling and wishing he had someone.

His watch lit up green on his wrist as it projected a reminder - time to go back. Smiling in relief, he turned around, and a hand shot out from an alleyway, clamped itself over his mouth and pulled him into the dark alley with inhuman strength. David tried to shout for help, his cries muffled.

"Shut up, you're going to get me killed!" Rachel pulled down her hood.

"Rachel! Shit! You scared me...oh god. What are you doing here?"

"I need your help."

David sighed.

"Of course you do," he appraised her, wincing as he noted all the bruises up and down her arms and the gash on her face, "the fuck happened to you? Come on, I'll get you on the ship I work on, we can drop you off on some plane far away."

"Quinn's alive. And she's not happy with me for the whole throwing her into a furnace after she held the King of Drar's son hostage on Saturn I guess."

He supported her weight as the two sloped back to the ship.

"Oh great, your evil sister is back. Urgh, you're soaking my jumper, and you're all muddy."

"Found a boyfriend yet?"

David frowned.

"Nope. A whole ship full of gay men, the engineer is really cute and I hit on him shamelessly but nope, no reaction. There's nobody in this universe willing to take me. Even my friend Trent who's the pilot has a boyfriend back here in London and he is the most irritating man in the world sometimes!"

"Excellent! I can matchmake you with this engineer guy!"

David silently prayed for help.

* * *

Nick was showing the timid Jeff around the ship. Jeff didn't speak much, just stayed close to Nick's side and smiled at the crew.

"Are you okay?" The commander asked, the blonde nodded hurriedly and Nick raised an eyebrow.

"I guess so," Jeff murmured "it's just a bit...scary being surrounded by so many people in weird suits with guns and...this technology is so weird."

"I'm so sorry, I forgot you were from Hope. Here," he handed Jeff a grey bracelet with a small black circle set in to it, "we call this a Comcuff. The black circle is a projector screen. The middle button projects the time, the top button is for paging other people, the bottom button is a map. Oh and that red button is an emergency call. You can talk to it as well and it does loads of other stuff. Trent sets alarms for other members of the staff at three in the morning but he's an idiot. Remind me to disable that feature On his cuff when I introduce you to him in a sec."

"Thanks!" Jeff decided to pretend he'd remembered all of that. Still, it was an amazing piece of kit, and a sign the ship was welcoming to newcomers.

They were on their way to the bridge when the airlock opened and Lieutenant Akanu staggered in with a stranger. A dark grey hooded top cast shadow over a pale face and their bare feet left a trail of blood and mud behind them as they slowly approached Nick, one cut up hand on the wall.

Nick stood in front of Jeff defensively.

"It could be a hitman, stay back."

Jeff shrunk into Nick.

"Stop." Nick commanded and the stranger paused, looking taken aback.

"That's Commander Duval, he's my boss." David explained.

"Oh, I'm dissapointed David, I thought you would be in charge. Commander," the girl greeted Nick in a faint voice, pulling down the hood to reveal brown shoulder length hair framing haunted dark brown eyes with deep shadows.

"This is my friend Rachel, she'll be staying aboard just for a couple days."

"No."

"Nick please," David begged.

"You know the rules, friends of employees aren't allowed aboard."

"However," Wes interrupted, apreparing from the bridge with supernatural speed, "family members are, if they're in danger. This is my cousin."

Nick started to challenge Wes.

David looked with pleading eyes at Nick.

"Oh man, really? Fine. But she leaves ASAP. And what happened to your shoes and your trousers?"

Rachel looked down at her trousers, which were shredded up to the knees, and her blood-smeared feet.

"Barbed wire fence. No more questions. Which way are the bedrooms cousin?" she linked her arm through Wes' and lead him away, throwing a sly wink at a visibly worried David, leaving Nick perplexed.

"How come no one knows I'm the commander? So much for my air of authority."

"It's the hair, you were supposed to cut it." David mock scolded him.

"I could cut it," piped up a timid voice "er, just a suggestion, you don't have to. Never mind." Jeff added in response to their gaping.

"No, no, I'd like that. If you're any good of course, I don't want you to mar my roguish good looks." Nick joked.

* * *

Nick lead Jeff to the conference room, stealing one of the silver spinning chairs and taking it to the large bathroom leading off from the conference room.

Nick threw himself onto the chair and it rolled across the room on four wheels, coming to a stop in front of the sink.

"Did you see that skill?" He joked, trying to ease Jeff's tension.

Jeff smiled uncertainly as he washed the commander's hair, once he was finished he spun Nick so he faced away from the mirror.

"Im gonna cut it now. Stay still," he ordered the commander, taking some scissors from one of the drawers and carefully cutting his hair. Once it reached his ears, he used a comb and ran it through before snipping some more off. Jeff's fingers brushed his neck and Nick felt goosebumps form.

"Done." eventually Jeff stopped and span the chair round, nervously waiting for the Commander's reaction.

"I like it," Nick felt his hair, which had started to curl more now it was shorter, and was cut to just above his ears. He felt along the back of his neck, it felt even.

"Thank you Jeff, I have a feeling you and I are going to get along like a house on fire!" he clasped the blond's shoulder And Nick admired Jeff's amber eyes, such an unusual and pretty colour.

"Commander we're receiving reports of an uprising in the town of Thar, Mars, switching to light speed as soon as we hit the Earth-Mars lightway. ETA till arrival 1 hour."

"Ok, thanks Trent." Nick pressed a button on his cuff and his next words blared through the intercom, "Ground squad: I want David, Thad , Jack and Eddie to meet me in the armoury ASAP."

"What about me?" Jeff asked And Nick considered his options.

"I don't want you to leave my side, you're safer with me."


	4. Chapter 4

To those who reviewed, thank you so much, you give me motivation to write more so thanks again. I know it's not much but it's the best I can do, my gift is my fic and this chapter's for you ;D *bad song reference*

* * *

Mars was the first planet to have its atmosphere recalibrated so that it was able to sustain life. Three mining towns sprang up not long afterwards, as the precious minerals deep below the red planet's surface were discovered. Riches were readily available on Mars to those entrepreneurs quick enough to stake their claim. However in the caves they soon found something else - the first hibernating alien race discovered by humans. They'd been masking their life signs for centuries, remaining in a deep slumber - their comatose state broken by the arrival of humans. Though few in number (standing at around 300 as of the 2409 census a few weeks ago) they are slowly increasing in number. Standing at an average of seven feet tall, this race are peaceful, despite their fierce appearance - resembling humanoid lizards with black and red patterned scales and spikes adorning their body - they have integrated peacefully into human society, learning the human language in days after their discovery and then adopting it. They called themselves Tharons, and the mining town which built up above the caves where they were discovered was named after them. Tharons make up a moderate chunk of the workforce in the factories, excellent workers due to their high stamina and preference to live in caves making them cheap labour for employers. Nick had lost a fair few drinking competitions to Tharon friends in bars on Thar and they'd seemed generally content with their lot. Indeed, the council classified them as low risk and let the Ambassadors in Mars deal with them as they saw fit.

So why were they rioting now?

* * *

Nick and Jeff ran to the armoury, Jeff outstripping him to the door and seeming at ease while Nick struggled to regain his breath.

"You...fast!" Nick wheezed

"I run track," The blonde explained.

"You're a hell of a runner. Stamina like that, you should be a marine dude," David whistled,"speaking of which!"

He threw Jeff a white jumpsuit, who hurriedly stepped into it and zipped it up over his clothes.

"It's a bit big for you," Nick noted with a smirk, thinking Jeff looked like a kid playing dress up.

The blonde gave him rueful eyes and tried to smooth the rumpled uniform.

"Commander?" Thad asked, and Nick entered a code into a keypad by the doorway. Metal shutters lifted and Jeff looked around in awe. Glass cases containing weapons, armour and other assorted military equipment lined the walls.

Thad opened the case on the left, which contained several piles of dark grey armour. Nick kicked off his shoes first, one hitting Jack - a small curly dark haired boy - in the shins.

"Oops!" Nick smirked

"You did that on purpose commander!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nick protested as he pulled on supple dark grey boots. Made from a flexible yet strong Kevlar material, they reached up to just below his knees. Next on were the gloves, made from the same material, then the two chest plate pieces, the chest piece buckling round his back, then the much larger back plate, which covered from the back of his neck to his lower back. These two pieces were a dark matte grey like the rest of the set, but made from a more rigid carbon fibre material, with the Kevlar in between segments around the joints, allowing for freedom of movement. To secure the back plate to Nick, the chest and back armour was magnetised by running a handheld metal rod over them both, and the backplate bound to the chest plate securely, Nick twisting to make sure the fit was right. More thin dark grey plates buckled around the front of his legs and arms, before these pieces too were magnetised and bound with plates on the back. Finally, a dark grey helmet slid over Nick's head, with a neck piece attached to cover the front of his neck. The team appraised each other, checking for gaps, and once satisfied they all slid down black-tinted visors composed of one way bulletproof glass. It unnerved Jeff being in a room with such scarily dressed men,unable to see their eyes and completely ignored.

The rest of the team were dressed identically, the only thing that set Nick apart from his subordinates was the large pale silver star adorning the centre of his chest plate and carved onto the front of his helmet above his visor. Nick opened the next two wall displays,one filled with melee weapons, the other with ranged. Strapping a pistol on his hip and a rifle on his back, he pressed his thumb into a hollow by the trigger on both the silver-blue guns and the red light illuminating this hollow clicked off. The commander slid a large combat knife into a holster on his left calf then turned to face Jeff.

"C'mere," Nick said, his voice distorted by the helmet. The Commander buckled plates around Jeff's chest, elbows and knees, before handing him a pair of boots and gloves, Thad and Eddie also helping Jeff into the rest of his armour. Jeff noticed with a twinge of disappointment that his visor was clear and he had no gun.

"You need to be able to move quicker than us so no weapons. You're going to be staying close to me or Thad, he's our shields expert, and you'll follow whatever orders I give, is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Jeff smiled internally, amused that Nick had a bossy side.

From the final wall Jeff was handed a small black device, a smooth ebony plastic box with one button and a screen in the middle.

"Cloaking device." Nick explained, "if anything happens to us get back to the ship, and don't trust anyone but David, Wes and Trent."

"ETA 20 minutes!" Trent spoke through the ship intercom.

Jeff gulped.

* * *

"This place is too hot!" Jack whinged through Nick's earpiece as the group trudged through the streets, Nick in the lead with Jeff close behind and Thad next to Jeff using some sort of device strapped to his shoulder plate to generate a forcefield to shield the group. David and Eddie flanked on either side, nervously aiming shotguns down each alleyway they passed, whilst bringing up the rear was Jack, holding a pistol, a sniper rifle slung across his back.

Jeff did agree with the shorter Corporal - Thar was as hot as hell and he wasn't used to wearing armour. Thick humid air made the soldiers groggy, the rocky red ground was uncomfortably hot beneath their feet, and when Jeff looked up he saw an impenetrable wall of thick white fog hanging between the rooftops of the buildings, building up as it was belched from the spouts of the factories, but too heavy to escape up into the atmosphere.

"Now I know why they say never go to Thar In mining season. Jeeeeez!" Jack continued.

"Corporal, stop with the chatter." The commander rebuked as they walked slowly along a rocky path, with formidable large rock formations on each side.

"Urgh, you're so boring somet-" Jack walked into the back of Thad as the group stopped suddenly when Nick held up one hand.

"Something isn't right..." He began, when a group of red and black lizard people detached from the rocks and lunged for them.

The muzzle of Nick's rifle flashed as several rounds bit into the Tharons' hides, accompanied by the clicking of Jack's pistol and the low thunks of the two shotguns. Eventually all the attackers lay still among the swirling dust.

"Are they dead?" Jeff piped up

"Nah, stun rounds. We'd need specially formulated expensive bullets to pierce Tharon hide, which we don't have on the ship. They should be out for a while though. " David replied.

Nick stepped forward cautiously and one of the fallen struggled to their feet, hissing and leaping towards the spacer. Rolling to one side Nick unsheathed the serrated combat knife and grabbed the alien in a headlock, pressing the blade to their scaly throat.

"Nick?" It rasped in surprise as it looked at the knife.

"Ziss?" Nick lowered the knife slightly and the Tharon relaxed.

"We thought you were here to kill us."

"We kinda were, we've been sent word of an uprising, rioting in the streets. What's going on exactly?"

The lizard took Nick by the arm.

"That is a long story, come with us, we shall explain."

* * *

Like it? Hate it? Favourite character or place that you want me to focus on more? Tell me, spend a minute writing me a review and I'll love you forever, surely that's a good trade? ;D


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Some pronunciations for the upcoming chapters, if there are any more I need to add tell me :)

Zthisulio (Suff-iss-oo-lee-oh)

Tharon (Fayre-on)

Therrik (Ferr-ick)

CrossSpec (cross-speck)

Varrli (varr-lee)

* * *

The spacers fidgeted as they followed the Tharons. The aliens lead the team through deserted streets of rubble, burned out cars and gnarled, twisted dead trees riddled with bullet holes - their leaves shed on the hot ground. Thar had become a warzone.

Jeff wanted to be by Nick's side, but Ziss had taken his place, so instead he walked next to David silently, worrying. Why did Nick trust this Ziss so easily? What if it was a trap? He couldn't shake his paranoia until he knew they were safe.

Eventually they followed the Tharons down a twisting red stone staircase which led underground.

Down.

And down.

And down.

And down.

Still further still.

It seemed to Jeff to be a never ending staircase.

Deeper.

And deeper.

And deeper they delved.

Was it his imagination or were the stairs getting shallower?

Expecting to find another step, his foot slammed into the sandy ground. This was it then.

Jeff couldn't see the sunlight anymore - their way was illuminated entirely by moody red fluorescent lights set into the floor, walls and low ceilings. After a short walk through a corridor, the ground levelled out and the walls opened up, so the group could finally see the Tharons' home.

"We should be honoured, few humans get invited down here to the heart of their colony." David whispered through the spacers' earpieces.

The yellow eyes of aliens watched them from the shadows between pillars set into the walkways of a floor above them. Silence broken only by the 'plink' of dripping water sustained for a few seconds, before finally Ziss spoke with an authoritative tone.

"Commander Nicholas Duval and his friends are guests here, they are not to be harmed."

The humans took off their helmets and gazed in wonder at the sights around them.

"Ziss, what's going on?" Nick asked loudly, Jeff wincing as it echoed around the cavern. A hiss ran along the hall, and a small Tharon with eerie orange-red eyes, stepped into the light, illuminating the blue tattoos spread across his face.

"This is how impolitely you let the humans treat you, Zthisulio? Pet names and impertinent demands?" A puff of smoke escaped from the angry Tharon's nose.

"Therrik be silent while I explain." Ziss ordered, and Therrik retreated back into the darkened edges of the room, many layers of sharp needle teeth visible as he snarled at the spacers;

"Show some respect to the Saar humans!"

"A Saar is the heir to the leader of the tribe I think, Nick be careful." David warned.

"I've brought you here to tell you what's really going on Nicholas," Ziss continued, scratching between two of the spikes adorning his head with his claws, "this is not a random Tharon rebellion. You know how hard we have worked, for many years ensuring Mars was a better place for both our races." Ziss gestured with hid clawed hands as he became more passionate in his speech.

"So why then?" Nick asked.

"You know our population is growing, and so at the same time we expand our cave system to fit the hatchlings, but it's no good tunnelling under a night club or the reservoir now is it? People would be mad if we tunnelled upwards to make an entrance in their living room, so we survey new areas carefully . One day one of our scouting parties above land found somewhere we weren't meant to know about. They never returned and we had no idea where they had gone until a few weeks later. One returned, Varrli, the youngest of our scouts. Shaking, they were so scared, speaking of needles taken down to the bone, blood taken, horns stolen. They were lab tests, humiliated and treated as animals, locked in cages!" Ziss drew himself up to his full height, nearly two metres tall on his hind legs, as he roared the last few sentences, "we snuck in at night, and do you know what we found? The Thar ambassador injecting our DNA into human children, they were making CrossSpecs!"

Jeff shuffled from side to side as the rest of the spacers' faces grew grim.

"Erm, what's a cross peck?" He mumbled next to David.

"Oh? You wouldn't have the technology on Hope I guess. The second race of aliens we discovered, the giant bats on Saturn, you know them, right? People injected their DNA into human embryos and the kids gained all sorts of freaky powers - making sound waves, limited telekinesis, that sort of thing. A few of them could even hover! We did it again when we discovered the mer on Neptune and Uranus, and these kids could breathe underwater and they were telepathic. We were all very excited about this - imagine an army of cross species superpowered soldiers! But then we realised the bats and the mer were sentient like the Thar, just unable to communicate with us. The project was canned about ten years ago and that was the end of that. CrossSpecs are dangerous, but since their existence became illegal they've all gone into hiding, scattered across the universe." The lieutenant answered.

Jeff frowned.

"That seems...unfair. They can't help being born a CrossSpec anymore than I can help being the counsellor's son!"

"That's just the way it is Jeff. They're dangerous - all those powers to rip us apart with and a lot of hatred for the world which they've been born into this way. Most are mentally imbalanced, addicted to fighting, they scour the bars of the galaxy for the next big fight, earning money as mercenaries and disappearing before your eyes the minute they hear the police coming. Literally turning invisible sometimes. Imagine being able to do that without a cloaking device! Luckily Wes is fantastic at making all these gadgets to mimic their powers and we don't need to worry about being hunted! So don't pity them, they'd rip you in half with a smile."

Jeff decided to drop the subject but he still felt uncomfortable about it. The lizards were waiting as Nick and Thad conversed in hurried whispers.

"I thought you were the lieutenant David?"

"Haha, yeah, but Thad is First Lieutenant, I'm just Flight lieutenant. I'm only Thad's superior whilst we're onboard the Warbler."

Finally Nick and Thad straightened up and faced the Tharons.

"If what you're saying is the truth then the Ambassador has broken the law and we will have him arrested and tried in London. But we need to see proof."

Ziss smiled, revealing a mouth full of shark-like teeth.

"Follow us."

* * *

The Tharons did not wear armour or have forcefields to protect them like the spacers - with a hide that thick why bother? Instead they clad themselves in strips of black leather and trousers to preserve their modesty, having grasped the concept of covering up from the humans. The Tharons did not carry weapons like the spacers - they had claws and teeth. Moving lithely on all fours they sped silently ahead of the group on all fours- on the floor, the walls and the ceiling. Fortunately Ziss remained in his humanoid stature to match the humans' pace and show them the way.

Eventually they came to a section of cave that was much narrower, with rougher walls, no red lights and an irregular shape. This must be the new tunnel, the one that lead to the Tharon's proof. In single file they carefully moved through the dark, dank tunnel (Ziss at the front closely followed by Nick, and Jack at the rear. The tension was palpable in the air, the group trying to breathe as quietly as possible, wincing every time a stone was kicked or a cough echoed loudly. Eventually they came to a hole in the wall, like a small doorway.

"This is where we came to check the scout was telling the truth. Mind your heads."

Dropping to all fours the Saar scurried through with ease, the humans awkwardly crawling through one by one. Jeff was the fourth one through, behind David, and once through he stood up to take in the sights.

Dead Tharons lay in a pile in the corner, whilst countless others were strapped to tables or suspended in green liquid inside transparent tubes lining the walls. There were children in some of the tubes too, and with deepening horror and disgust Jeff saw the much smaller pile of the children's corpses. The smell was...it was the worst thing Jeff had ever smelt. Sour and evil, curling in the back of his throat. Jeff gagged and sank to the floor trying not to vomit - or worse, scream.

All the Tharons had sped on ahead except Ziss. Sighing Nick checked his squad over, realising Jeff was in a bad way and approaching him slowly, laying a gentle hand on the shaking blond's shoulder.

"You ok Jeff? No of course you're not," he sighed "this is my fault, I should've left you in the tunnel with Jack or Eddie. C'mon, it'll be ok."

"How could anyone do this?" Jeff whispered, horrified.

"Because there is too much evil in this world, don't worry, we'll find out who's responsible and have them locked up, this place will be shut down in no time."

The tremors stopped and Jeff gratefully took Nick's offered hand to rise to his feet. The commander smiled, his white teeth flashing, and Jeff couldn't help but smile back.

"You're not supposed to be here." A thin wavering voice interrupted them, and a black silhouette dropped from a walkway at the back of the room to the floor, glowing green eyes visible from the shadows. "Why did you come here? Now I have to kill you!"


	6. Interlude

Hi! just thought I'd let you know - a poll is now open in my profile so you can choose which pairings (apart from niff and Klaine which are happening BECAUSE I SAY SO AND IT'S MY STORY :P) you want to see in this fic !

Happy voting! :3


	7. Chapter 6

**Hi! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know, I'm always open to criticism and il'l love you forever if you review. :3**

**with love, **

**me**

**p.s (casual reminder about the poll on my profile page of any side character relationships you want to see. If you choose other pm me or review to tell me what this other pairing is, I'm interested to know!)**

* * *

Nick pushed Jeff behind him and drew the rifle from his back, whilst the other spacers took up a defensive position alongside him. Ziss...where was Ziss?

"Stop right there!" Nick asked, pointing the gun at the newcomer, who chuckled darkly and continued to approach them.

"Those eyes...he's gotta be a CrossSpec," Jack gulped.

The stranger looked a few years younger than Jeff, maybe even still a teenager, but there was something in his face that made Jeff feel cold inside. Every instinct was screaming at him that this person wasn't entirely human, he practically radiated menace. The CrossSpec stopped and smiled, before leaping with inhuman speed right at Nick. The spacers slammed their visors down and prepared for a counter attack.

The stun bullets seemed to barely slow him at all. Jack dropped the stun ammo and fired a shotgun blast that ripped through the air, plowing into the CrossSpec's side, and the enemy was slammed sideways into a glass tube on the wall, cracking the glass. After a few seconds the boy stopped clutching his side and they watched as the wound slowly began to repair itself.

"What do we do Nick?" David asked, sounding worried, his voice tinny through the earpiece, taking advantage of the CrossSpec's temporary injury.

"You get a shot in with the most powerful ammo you've got, when you've got him slowed down enough we'll aim for the head. Aim carefully, we don't have enough bullets to waste."

"Yeah! Lets see you regenerate from this!" Jack cackled as he fired another slug into the teenager.

"Hostile is definitely wounded now Commander," David stood next to Jeff, his visor lit up as he zoomed in "all team member shields intact."

The CrossSpec hissed and jumped, clinging to the ceiling, Jeff could've sworn a puff of smoke left his mouth.

"His fingernails turned into... claws? and he's... get down!"

The spacers dropped as the CrossSpec breathed out a tongue of flame that sizzled over their heads. The teenager dropped to the floor and walked over to them.

"Any last wor-" Ziss dropped on the CrossSpec soundlessly, snapping his neck. Jeff flinched at the loud crack.

"Well you took your time!" Nick smiled, and the pair bumped fists.

"There you have your proof. A Tharon CrossSpec."

"The first I've ever seen or heard of, but this project must've been going on some time, he looked at least 17."

"A first for me too, and my people Nicholas. This is clearly evidence that the humans have created at least one Tharon CrossSpec. There's more for you to see inside. The Director, head of this facility, is in here too, but we can't find him, hiding no doubt."

"Eddie guard the body, keep your video open on your helmet. Any trouble, you are authorised to use lethal force. You got that corporal?"

"Sir yes sir!"

* * *

The Tharon army had knocked out or killed all the guards, but the humans still jumped every time a shadow moved or when Jack stumbled over a step.

"Sorry," he mumbled, and the crew sighed as they're holstered their weapons.

Nick checked the top right corner of his visor, which showed the view from the camera embedded in Eddie's helmet. All clear for now.

Continuing on through the eerily quiet dark corridors, they came to the central security room, which was filled with thin blue screens all over the walls.

"Flight Lieutenant?"

David sat in the swivel chair in the middle of the room and pushed several coloured button on the semicircular console that surrounded the chair. The screens lit up and David swiped pictures and graphs from screen to screen. A large virtual 3D map of the facility took up four of the screens directly in front of David.

"I'm discarding areas where the director can't be to the screens on the left. That leaves us with these six areas." He nodded to the screens on the right.

"We need to narrow it down further," Nick frowned, leaning in to the displays.

"Two of these areas don't have thermal cameras and the four that do..." David pushed another button and Jeff watched in awe as the cameras swivelled to do a 360 degree loop "are all clear of human vitals for at least 50m."

"Where's left?" The commander asked brusquely.

"The east wing clinical pathology labs and the director's office."

"We'll check the office first, he's most likely to be there - he's too grandiose to hide in a lab."

"You check the office, ill go on ahead to the labs then, It will save time." Ziss dropped to all fours and sped off.

"Ziss wait! Dammit," Nick scowled, "alright, move out!"

* * *

They'd recalibrated one of Nick's pistols to accept Jeff's fingerprint, Jeff watched with wide eyes as he pressed his thumb into the red hollow and the glow disappeared, then as he tapped the hollow again and a flashlight shone from the gun. The smooth cold metal felt foreign in his hands, but he was ashamed that a small part of him felt...safer, more in control.

Nick walked up to the fancy mahogany door and examined the gold lettering.

"Director's office, this is it." With that Nick kicked the door and it flew open, smacking off the wall loudly. The team moved in, checking around them with their flashlights. It was pitch black in the office, which made everyone nervous, but nothing jumped out. Eventually, after scouring the rest of the office, they came to the wardrobe at the back.

Cautiously Thad walked up to it, before suddenly pulling the door open and jumping back, the team training their guns on the man in the crumpled suit who fell out.

"Director Edwardssss," A familiar voice hissed and Jeff looked up to see Ziss on the ceiling.

The director had a neatly trimmed toothbrush the exact shame gingery grey shade as his close cropped hair.

"Dont kill me! I didn't have a choice, I swear!"

"Really? So you were forced into this profitable manufacturing of an army of superpowered mercenaries in your own labs? I find that unlikely."

"They weren't my labs, not anymore, the ambassador gave me a choice nearly 20 years ago -accept some money and let him rent the basement labs no questions asked, or he'd have me ruined, make up lies about me. I knew they'd believe him over me, and I was making a good amount of money, why would i ruin it poking my nose in! I never thought about it often until you and the lizard people broke in there."

"I'm sorry our morals interrupted your business scheme," Nick growled, slamming the director against the wall "if you're lying and you had any part in this..."

"I'm telling the truth! I swear!" The elderly gentleman squeaked, and Nick dropped the man to the floor, where he lay in a heap.

"You're coming with us, to testify as a witness. Refuse and I'll have you arrested as an accessory."

In handcuffs, the director followed meekly as they headed to the Ambassador's tower.

* * *

The ambassador was a corpulent man, dripping in gold jewellery and draped in fur clothes, he was in the middle of a video conference with the council when Nick and his crew burst in, their armour still streaked with blood and dust.

"A space navy commander? What is the meaning of this?!" The ambassador noted the star on Nick's chest and helmet.

"Oh how fortunate, this saves me the effort of calling the council. Ambassador Rein, you are under arrest for the creation of illegal cross species races, kidnap, torture and murder of both humans and a recognised sentient alien race, and the blackmail of Director Edwards."

Thad restrained the large man, while the councillors gasped.

"These are serious accusations Commander Duval, do you have any evidence to back these allegations?"

David scanned the disc containing a digital copy of the incriminating documents found in the labs, the director's office, and some video logs showing the ambassador threatening Edwards. He also included photos of the CrossSpec and the cargo ship number and autopsy lab the corpse was bound to.

There was a long silence as the councillors studied the data flashing up on their screen, and played back the video from Eddie's suit during the fight with the CrossSpec.

"We will send a retrieval team immediately for the Ambassador. We will also send councillor Anderson to act as Ambassador until a new one is elected. Dismissed."

With that the message ended.

"The retrieval squad will take at least a day to get here, we'll house him in the cells in the tower for now." Nick ordered, and he and Thad dragged the convict away.

Eddie went to radio back to the Warbler, leaving David and Jeff alone.

"Nick is amazing isn't he," Jeff gaped, turning red when David grinned "oh you know what I mean! He's really good at all this stuff. Politics and fighting, he should be on some council galleon, or heading an elite council law squad, why is he doing outer space patrol? My father said they gave that job to people they wanted out of the way."

"A few years ago Nick was the up and coming next big thing serving on the Solo III, youngest lieutenant ever to serve in space, and fast becoming the poster boy of the UK space navy. The day after he became the youngest ever commander to serve in space he was outed by an American private who claimed the commander harassed him. They couldn't exactly punish him for his sexuality so some bright spark had the idea of still promoting him, but making him commander of a ship where he can't have much contact with other soldiers. In case he makes them uncomfortable. Just like all of the crew here," David spat

"So all of the crew of the Warbler were assigned there as punishment?"

"Well, about 90% of the crew are here because we're homosexual, but some embarrassed the council in other ways. Brody, an engineer, is onboard because he slept with a councillor's daughter. Daddy wasn't happy. Most of us are happy to serve on the Warbler - you couldn't find a more accepting, tight knit, laid back ship if you tried. Everyone onboard is a friend as well as a teammate."

Jeff smiled and said nothing, but inwardly rejoiced. If ever there was a place he'd be accepted it was here.

* * *

They left the Tharons to guard the prisoner for the night as they headed back to the Warbler, eager for a shower and a good night's rest. Finally their leaden feet trudged their way back to the ship, and they all staggered in side, stripping their armour into the wash chute on the wall by the door and retreated to their individual rooms, where each person found two piles of clothes folded neatly, most of the team had dark grey pyjamas and the white jumpsuit, but Jeff had the nightclothes and standard alliance issue casual wear: a grey hoodie and sweatpants with a black t-shirt, all three items embroidered with the three chevrons and lion of the UK space military. The crew undressed, throwing their white jumpsuits into the wash chutes in their room and slumping into bed.

* * *

Jeff woke screaming, clutching at his throat, before realising that he'd dreamt the hands that were there squeezing.

"Just a dream." He tried to reassure himself, but every time he closed his eyes the malicious green ones of the dead CrossSpec taunted him, the sound of fire singing his hairs as he hurriedly ducked to the floor, or he remembered the CrossSpec's dead body lying on the floor. Jeff had never seen a corpse in person before, and he had no desire ever to do so again. Feeling thoroughly sick now he sat up and pulled his hoody on over the thin pyjamas and left his room, wincing every time his bare feet touched the cold metal floor. Moving away from the sleeping area of the ship he padded along, exploring the new corridors he discovered and avoiding the skeleton night crew. Most of the rooms were carpeted conference rooms, bathrooms, or offices for crew members with computers whirring on standby, but he enjoyed the thrill of discovering new places, mapping this new area of the ship out in his mind.

At the very bottom of the corridor the automatic door opened with a quiet whoosh to reveal a large room, with the same metal floor as the corridor, and large glass windows on the far wall, revealing the black expanse of space. Silently, he padded over to sit on the sill and pressed his face against the cool glass.

"Trouble sleeping?" A voice came behind him and Jeff jumped, banging his head off the glass.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Nick chuckled from the doorway, he was also in his pyjamas, his hair ruffled and holding a styrofoam cup, "want a coffee?"

"It's yours, you have it." Jeff replied, the commander just pointed to the half assembled pyramid of white cups in the corner and handed Jeff the hot drink.

"You need it more than me, I've had too many already, it's lucky Trent swaps the coffee in the machine to decaf when he thinks I'm not looking."

Jeff sipped the hot sugary drink gratefully. Nick scooted over to sit next to him.

"I come here often, when I can't sleep. You didn't answer my question," Nick noticed, his dark eyebrows furrowing with concern.

"Every time I close my eyes I see his face," Jeff said softly, and Nick knew instantly who he meant.

"First time you've seen someone die, right?"

"Yeah. I know you guys are spacers, killing bad guys is obviously part of your job...but it, it's different seeing it, like, in real life compared to on tv."

Nick wrapped an arm around Jeff's shoulders and squeezed it lightly, wanting to comfort the American but not sure how to.

"I'm sorry, I should've left you in the ship. I just didn't want to leave you alone here, especially with that girl David brought onboard. I got a bad feeling when she walked through the door, like she was the kind of person trouble follows around, and I thought if you were with me I could protect you. Sorry. I know it doesn't make it easier for you, but I really am."

"It's fine, I have nightmares a lot anyway." Jeff confided.

"If you ever can't sleep, or just want to talk, my bedroom door is always open to you."

There was a long silence.

"That didn't come out right," Nick hastily amended "Not that I'm saying you're not attractive, but I'm not harassing you or anything. Oh god. What I meant was that I'm here for you," the commander blustered.

"I know." Jeff mumbled groggily.

"I'm glad you're here Jeff, I know we haven't known each other long, but I would like to be your friend. I'm not that bad, at least I hope not. I think my crew like me really!" Nick joked

There was another long silence broken only by Jeff's soft breathing, and when Nick looked down he found the blond had fallen asleep on him, his hair moving up and down with each breath.

"Night Jeff," Nick brushed the hair from the younger man's eyes, leaning back so Jeff was more comfortable on him, and looked out the window into the vast black, peppered with silver and gold stars "sleep well, because you never know what will happen next on my crew. Speaking of which, I'm going to find out who wrecked the lower right engine bay room and I'm going to kill them!"


	8. Chapter 7

"Okay listen up! Clearly somebody thought it would be great fun to trash one of the engine bay rooms while I was away with my team, so today while we go keep watch on the prisoner you're all going to fix it."

The crew groaned as Nick lectured them, before leaving with Eddie, Jack and Thad.

"Does anyone know who actually did this?" Jeff asked Trent, who seemed less intimidating than the rest of the crew.

"Beats me," the pilot replied "but the commander is in a foul mood."

"Whoever it was must've used some heavy equipment, no one is strong enough to smash stuff up like that with their bare hands." Brody, an engineer with a permanent mischievous glint in his pale green-blue eyes, ruffled dark brown hair and a shadow of stubble on his jaw, always seemed amused by everything, including this.

David was in the infirmary after feeling pains in his chest last night - turns out he'd cracked a rib and hadn't even noticed the pain till the adrenaline wore off hours later. When he heard about the damage to the engine bay he had one person in his mind, and his prime suspect had just come through the doorway now to check on him.

"How're you feeling David?" Rachel asked, sitting on the end of the bed.

"What did you do to my ship Rachel, don't even try to lie to me or I swear I will have you thrown out the airlock."

Rachel grinned "I'd like to see them try."

* * *

_Yesterday_

"Which way are the bedrooms 'cousin'?" Rachel smirked as she linked her arm through Wes'.

As if he didn't know what she was! He would've killed her where she stood if he could've done so without revealing himself. He would've left this girl to rot if not for David. For lieutenant Akanu to sound so pleading, this girl must be important to him.

"Are you David's girlfriend?" He tried to sound casual, plastered on a charming smile as he lead her away from the visitor sleeping quarters, and towards his lair - it was dark and noisy in the engine bays, he could get the truth from her there without being heard over the roar of the engines. The Warbler had four engines, but only four engineers, as such each was assigned an engine. No one would be coming there soon. Each room was dark, filled with tools, computers and machinery, and dominated by a huge cylindrical engine going from the centre of the room to the back, leaving through an air tight seal to outside. Perfect for an ambush.

He lead her into the engine bay room, closed the door and pounced, grabbing her slamming her against the far wall, his fingers twisted in her clothes as he held her against the wall. Pressing his face towards hers until they were nose to nose he hissed in her ear, as the machines rattled and whirred loudly behind them.

"Why have you come here? How did you find me?"

"You're like me?" She feigned surprise. As if she didn't know.

"Don't play coy with me. How. Did. You. Find. Me?" he growled.

An invisible wave crashed into him from his right and he dropped the girl as he was knocked into one of the control panels. Rachel crouched ready to pounce, eyes glowing a violent green.

"Sound. You're a Drar CrossSpec." The Drar were a race of giant bat like creatures on Saturn. The first CrossSpecs had been those with Drar blood.

"What about you?" She asked cautiously.

"Don't pretend you don't know who I am. You're here to kill me, you would know I have Mer blood." He jumped and kicked the brunette, who smashed into the wall, leaving a crater from the impact, before kicking off from the wall and - grappling with Wes - sending them both into the other one. Wes ripped spanners from their holsters on the wall and threw them one after the other at the other CrossSpec, who ran and weaves her way under beams and around consoles. Spanners everywhere, thrown so hard they sank a few inches into the thick steel girders, one speared its way through a whole computer and flew out the other side, lodging itself in the wall with a few of its brethren. Screwdrivers were the next sharp projectiles, and Rachel jumped to catch an iron rafter, pulling herself up onto on of the several beams that criss-crossed the ceiling of the room, wincing as one embedded itself in her leg. Fortunately CrossSpec skin was far tougher than a normal human's. Ripping it out she returned it to it's owner with equal force, who dived out of the way and groaned when it sliced open some of the casing around the engine.

She hopped silently from beam to beam, staying in the shadows. Eventually he was underneath her and she dropped almost silently. Not silently enough - he twisted and leapt away. She ripped a piece of metal from the engine and and moulded it in her hands. He ripped an iron bar off a ladder rung, Rachel pushed another wave of telekinesis at him. And the fight began again...

Nearly an hour later it was over. Rachel straddled him, pushing his body down with her weight, a sharp piece of metal at Wes' throat. The two were both breathing heavily, covered in a sheen of sweat.

"Well? Kill me then." Wes sounded resigned.

"Why did you let me on this ship just to attack me?"

Wes sighed.

"To keep David and Nick out of this. I don't want them to know what I am, and I didn't want them to get hurt trying to get in the middle of this fight."

The Drar CrossSpec narrowed her eyes and lowered the makeshift weapon slightly.

"I didn't come here to kill you. I'm running from another CrossSpec trying to kill me. Just wait till we land somewhere further away from Earth and i'll be gone."

"Well if you're hiding you're going the wrong way about it..."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you wonder why my eyes don't glow? Why I'm slower and weaker than you?"

"Nah, I just thought you were weak." Rachel smirked.

"Every time you use your blood to make sound waves, move objects or be stronger you are sending out a giant beacon to anyone searching for CrossSpecs. Some Mer can see the energy leaking out a CrossSpec's body - they're called trackers. And you've just told them all roughly where we are. In a few days they'll be here in Thar and they'll spot the energy leaking out your body from half a mile away. So yeah, I'm surprised you've lived to become a teenager if I'm honest."

Jumping off him, the girl paced, hands pressed to her face.

"Is there any way I can hide this?"

Wes sighed and pulled out a small cardboard box labelled "multivitamins".

"Here. Just take three a day."

"Vitamin tablets?! I have superpowers, not scurvy."

"No stupid, they're a mixture that hides CrossSpec energy. Most black market dealers will know what you're talking about if you ask for vitamin tablets, they dull your strength and speed, and remove most of your offensive powers entirely while they're in your bloodstream, but you'll be invisible. No power leakage whatsoever and best of all you'll retain most of your speed, strength and endurance."

Footsteps echoed and the two slunk further into the shadows. Superhuman vision took in the carnage they'd left behind.

"Let's get out of here," Wes muttered, and the engineer lead Rachel into a small duct that lead to the air vents. Crawling as silently as they could, Wes eventually stopped and she followed him as he slid down a chute. They landed in a pile of clothes in a small humid room.

"Ew. Thanks Wes."

"Nick is going to kill me. They'd just refurbished the engine bays. We're in the pre-washed clothes room, c'mon, I suppose I'd better find you a guest bedroom."

The door opened and a soldier with red hair opened the door.

"Oops, sorry!" His face flared red, and the soldier closed the door again.

"Well there we have our alibi. Guess Nick will kill someone else." Wes seemed pretty cheerful about it.

He showed Rachel to a small white room with a pale grey carpet, a fresh set of clothes lain out for her.

"It was nice meeting you Rachel, I'm sorry I thought you were here to assassinate me." He chuckled.

"I get that a lot, but thanks," Rachel replied, before turning to the Mer CrossSpec just as he was about to leave "Wes?"

"What?"

"Are you gay?"

"That's...forward."

"I'm not asking for my sake you dolt." Rachel deadpanned.

"I've never really thought about myself as straight or gay. Gender doesn't matter to me particularly. I've dated men and women, I think it's more the personality I go for." Wes said seriously, closing the door behind him as he left.

* * *

_Present_

"So you had nothing to do with the destruction of the engine room?"

Rachel grinned.

"David, there are some things you just don't want to know! See ya."

With that she sauntered out the room, leaving David to listen to the grumbling of the crew as they fixed up the ship.

Luckily Jeff arrived soon after to visit him. Now he had to plot a way to keep his company with him for as long as possible. Loneliness was boring.

"Hey Jeff, up for a game of monopoly?"

* * *

It was Nick's turn to guard the ambassador, who'd accepted his imprisonment weirdly well. In fact, he seemed to be in good cheer, and his whistling was getting on the commander's nerves.

"Don't rise to it Nick," Ziss warned quietly, but the commander was already in a bad mood today.

"What's your problem huh?" Nick yelled, clutching the bars if the cell and peering in to where the Ambassador reclined on a basic bed as if it were a comfortable chaise-longue.

"Seems like you're the one with a problem Commander, and soon I'm sure you'll have many many more." The pudgy man replied cheerfully, inspecting his fingernails.

"Is that a threat? From the man about to spend the rest of his life in prison?"

A group of five men in the dark purple armour of the council's elite burst through the door.

"We're here for the ambassador."

They pushed Nick out of the way and opened the cell, dragging the man out and not sparing Nick a second glance. He felt utterly unimportant next to these men, and shrank back as the ambassador walked out surrounded by the retrieval squad, his wrists bound.

"Are you afraid of the dark Nicholas Duval?" The ambassador asked with an amused tone as he was lead away.

"No."

The faint reply echoed in Nick's brain menacingly for a long time afterward.

"Not yet. But you will be."

For the whole way back to the Warbler Nick felt like something was breathing over his shoulder. The rest of the group were similarly subdued - even Jack didn't talk at all.

Eventually they reached the dock.

"Are you okay Nicholas?"

"I know this sounds stupid Ziss, but I feel paranoid all of a sudden. As if we're not safe. Something bad is going to happen, that ambassador was up to something, I just know it."

"Then I'm coming with you." Ziss decided.

"But your home,"

"I don't want to be a Saar forever Nicholas. Maybe if I prove my bravery helping your alliance, I can further the cause of my people on other planets. I want to lead a tribe one day, on a world other than Mars."

The commander considered.

"Welcome aboard Saar."


	9. Chapter 9

Hi! Thanks for all the kind reviews. Don't forgot to keep voting for the romances you want to see happen in this story, though i'm trying to give story and romance equal importance in L2L so some may find the love story develops a little slowly for their tastes and that's okay. Yes there will be Niff, but both Nick and Jeff have some serious issues that need to be resolved first, hence "learn to love again". And yes Jeff will learn to defend himself better as he spends time onboard.

And yes I'm really struggling to work Sebastian into the story but I have a side plot lined up for him later on so he is going to stop being such a recluse soon. Enjoy! :)

* * *

The Saarak was angered by his youngest son's decision to join the team of humans, but had eventually given permission. Now, a week later he paced In the small cavern that was his personal quarters. Before him a young Tharon with purple warpaint wrung his hands, dropping to all fours and pressing himself to the floor as the Saarak hissed in frustration, a small jet of fire singing the stone.

"How many?" He asked in his native language, it was very rare that a Tharon would use English in their home unless it was for a human's benefit, and humans didn't visit.

"We estimate about 300 of these Tharon cross-specs were shipped off Mars before Saar Zthisulio and Commander Duval's tea, had the compound shut down." The purple faced Tharon whimpered as the Saarak roared and more flames licked the walls of the cave, before he rubbed his temples and sighed.

"you may leave now. Have someone find me a way to contact Zthisulio."

Commander Duval would need to know. Much as the Saarak loathed to admit it, these cross specs would destroy entire galaxies as an army, and the commander was the first human spacer from the military to befriend the Tharons. If any human could be trusted it was Nicholas Duval.

* * *

"I don't trust you Commander," David leaned forward in his chair opposite Nick, who automatically leaned back, pulling his hands closer to his chest.

"If you think I'm lying go ahead, you'll be punished severely." The commander smirked and leaned backwards, one arm on the back of the chair.

"He's bluffing, his eye twitched!" Jack exclaimed on David's left, on his right opposite Jack, Eddie nodded as the commander frowned slightly. For a minute Duval almost looked scared. That settled it for the trio.

They all spread their cards on the table.

"Awh come on!"

"Royal flush! Don't say I didn't warn you." Nick snickered as he took all the money from the middle of the table.

"You're an evil man Commander," Wes chuckled from the corner of the room where he, Rachel and Jeff stood laughing at the other three marines' shocked expressions.

"I'm gonna go check on Ziss, see you losers later." Winking, he took a bow, spun around and strolled away.

"That was three weeks wages I lost!" Jack moaned as he faceplanted the table.

"That was hilarious," Rachel answered "how couldn't you tell he was acting?"

"Normal people aren't as perceptive as us," Wes whispered in her ear, his dark hair tickling her face.

"And you're incredibly unperceptive. Look how David is looking at you. Why don't you date him Wes? You must like him or you'd just tell me you're not interested."

The male Cross-Spec's face darkened and he looked away from her, moving over to talk to Jeff.

"How are you feeling Jeff?" The engineer asked smoothly. Jeff smiled tentatively at him, scratching his neck.

For the last week they'd been waiting for the new acting ambassador to arrive. With his important new role, Councillor - now Ambassador - Anderson had to travel in an extremely well defended galleon. The downside is that galleons are extremely slow. Until then they'd been orbiting mars, having some time off.

The alliance divided their ships into classes according to size and weight, but Jeff couldn't understand for the life of him why they used the names coined hundreds and hundreds of years ago for old boats. He found it fascinating to think how much had changed in the last thousand years. The discovery of how to travel faster than light, how to make cars hover and guns which recognised fingerprints, and the ability to grow food in a lab - however did humanity manage without? Jeff couldn't imagine a world where people died just from getting dirt in a cut.

"I'm fine," the blonde realised he hadn't given Wes a response "I've enjoyed getting to know you all."

Wes actually smiled, to his surprise.

"Yeah, you've come out of your shell a bit. I can't believe you're taller than most of us, you seem like you should be really small, like mouse size, with how quiet you were."

"Erm," Jeff began, not sure how to respond to this statement.

"Jeff!" Thad ran into the room, "you need to get to the vid room ASAP. Something's happened."

* * *

The vid room was perfectly rectangular, with the door that opened into the steel-walled room in the middle of the wall. The entire back wall was taken up by the screen, and leather chairs were pushed against both side walls so as not to take up space. When Jeff walked in, the screen was frozen on an image of an upside down black triangle inside a slightly larger red triangle on a silver background.

"Jeff," Nick the only other person in the room, looked at him with pained eyes. "I'm so sorry. I have something to tell you, sit down."

An icy sensation ran down Jeff's neck and he shivered, suddenly unwilling to sit in the proffered chair the commander pulled in front of him. The commander's face... It was the sort of face the doctor had worn delivering the bad news to Jeff's father.

"Jeff..." Nick tugged at one of the curls in his hair anxiously, pausing for thought before trying again. "Jeff, I've just received a video from the council, it was sent to them with a ransom request. I've shown no one else on the ship yet, and you don't have to watch it if you'll find it distressing."

"What is it?" Jeff asked sharply, a sense of horror growing and the icy feeling intensifying.

"Your father has been taken by a terrorist group."

"Play the video." Jeff's face closed off and Nick pressed a button on the com-cuff on his wrist. The logo faded out of focus as the screen blurred darkened to black. When it refocused, they were staring at a limp form slumped in a chair, hands tied and a sack over his head. The room was dark, lit only by the candle held by a gurning toothless man in a dark brown uniform bearing the triangle logo. Using the hand which wasn't holding the candle, the toothless man saluted someone off camera.

The other person spoke in a calm, distinguished voice, clashing with the savage imagery of the burn marks and cuts all over the man in the chair's body.

"Tom, perhaps you'd be so kind as to remove our prisoner's hood."

The toothless man pulled the sack from the hostage's head, and even though Jeff knew who it was, the reality of seeing his father's normally steely grey eyes looking helpless and afraid, and his mouth taped shut, still stunned him.

"This is councillor Sterling. You probably know him well. From what I've heard _he_ certainly knows _you _well," The voice continued, "he had lots of interesting stories to tell me, with a little persuasion." Carl Sterling uttered a muffled scream as Tom deliberately dripped hot wax on his ear.

"So I'm going to cut you a deal councillors. One million credits for the councillor, and another million not to spread your dirty secrets. You have one week, and then ill start taking your sons and daughters. I would think they're all worth at least three million to you?" A dark chuckle and then the video ended.

The silence was deadening in the small room as Nick waited for a response from the councillor's son.

"So what happens now?" Jeff asked eventually, face stony.

"We keep looking after you like normal, the council will get Sterling out, but no one is getting to you. Jeff, if you want to talk to anyone I'm here, I mean it. The crew and I are 100% behind you. I won't let anyone hurt you and since the captain never leaves his office this is my ship."

"I'll be fine thanks," Jeff replied flatly "I don't really care about him."

Stunned, Nick could only blurt out;

"You don't really mean that."

"Why do you pretend to care? If you were really bothered about him you would've rescued him by now yourself."

Nick caught Jeff's hand as he stood up and turned to leave.

"I care about _you._ You don't hate your dad, and he definitely doesn't hate you. He cared enough about your wellbeing to have you placed on here for your protection, though he doesn't seem like the affectionate dad type. He's refused to give out your location so far, even under whatever kind of pain they put him through. Otherwise we'd have been followed or attacked now, the council got this video a week ago."

Jeff pulled his hand out of Nick's grip and left, not saying a word.

"Hey Nicky, the council wanna chat, I'm linking them through." Trent's cheerful voice irked Nick even more. Now he couldn't run after Jeff. Great.

* * *

"Councillors," Nick inclined his head in greeting, as a semicircle of humans sitting on plush red chairs appeared on the screen. The effect was disorientating, as if the screen wasn't there at all, and the councillors were in the room with him.

"Commander Duval, excellent work apprehending former ambassador Charles Rein. Evidence linking him to the terrorist group holding Councillor Sterling has been found. They are known as the Galactic Defence League, a highly anti-council organisation."

"I've never heard of them."

"They're fairly new, which makes it worrying they were able to pull off a kidnapping of this scale. They've been linked to illegal cloning research in the past, and the illegal manufacture of CrossSpecs. The labs you discovered were Galactic Defence League funded. Worryingly, from the little of Rein's files he wasn't able to destroy, we've discovered that there are several other Galactic Defence League projects on other planets, and Mars wasn't even the most high priority one."

"I'll let you know if anything crops up."

"Likewise Commander, until then, you are tasked to remain on Thar until Ambassador Anderson arrives, and guard him whilst his security personnel are setting up in the new Ambassador residence."

"Understood."

"Good luck Commander."

The screen faded to black.

"We're getting another signal from, and you're not gonna believe this, the former ambassador's office."

"Send it through," Nick fidgeted, half expecting a shadowy silhouette to flicker on the screen and speak with that dark, sophisticated voice.

"Commander Nicholas Duval." What he got was a Tharon with gold war paint all over his face and body, painted gold talons and a shimmering golden belt adorning baggy brown trousers with silver chains hanging around his chest.

"I am the Saarak, leader of the Tharons."

* * *

"Commander Duval over and out."

"commander." the screen turned black and he was left to process this new information.

"300 Tharon CrossSpecs. Three. Hundred. Tharon. CrossSpecs." Nick tried to regulate his breathing. " Holy snakes on a plane that's bad. I'm going to bed."

After the initial formalities, the Saarak had relayed the bad news, expressing his hope that Nick would help, and he couldn't exactly say no when he had the guy's son onboard, he grumbled to himself as he bypassed his crew.

He was headed back to his quarters when something made him stop and go check the observation deck. Sure enough, as the door opened noisily, the back of a blonde head was visible, stacking white polythene cups into a pyramid. He didn't even look up as Nick approached. Closer up Nick could see his eyes were red and his hands were shaky.

"Jeff..." Nick plonked himself down next to the councillor's son.

"I knew you'd come find me...eventually." The American still didn't look at him.

"I'm sorry, I had to talk to the council." Now didn't seem like the best time to remind Jeff he was the commander of a Navy Spaceship and had other responsibilities.

"He's done so many bad things! I shouldn't care about him!" Jeff yelled suddenly and Nick's hand snapped to the pistol on his belt before he could stop it, as he automatically leapt back.

"Sorry." They both apologised at the same time and started in shock again.

"He's your father, and he raised you, of course trying to hate him is going to tear you in two. I can't pretend I've been through what you're going through, but I've met so many people with parental issues before it's scary. Some of those parents and children genuinely didn't care about each other anymore, and you're not acting like one of them. You obviously care or you wouldn't be so upset about this. I know you two obviously weren't very close, but he's looked after you and seen you at least once weekly since you moved out at sixteen. He deeply cares about you, from what I've been told. Even went through court to _force_ the British Government to take you, outside the jurisdiction of the Ten. He knew you'd be safer here than anywhere else, and he was right - turns out the guy who betrayed your father was American Army. Turns out the Galactic Defence League have at least three moles in the Ten and their advisors. Councillor Sterling must have suspected."

"He was always paranoid, said that's what kept him alive. I put some new shoes on once without checking the soles for explosives first and he freaked out." The ghost of a smile crossed Jeff's face.

"Commander!"

"What Trent?!" Nick barked.

"Well, we're still orbiting Mars but I had to pull out a little further to avoid some asteroids. We're about thirty seconds from hitting a Solar storm and there's more asteroids headed our way, which I won't be able to avoid if our power cuts out in the storm."

"What?!" Shit! Jeff get away from the windows! We have to leave the observation dec-" a large crash and the entire ship rattled, the lights flickering. Rocks the size of cars floated past outside, making horrible metallic screeches as they scraped the hull. "Jeff we have to go now!" The pair scrambled to their feet and headed for the door when the entire ship tilted upwards, sliding them away from the door. The last thing Jeff saw was Nick turning pale as they were both flung backwards through the air by a violent judder towards the glass. Then there was an explosion on the back of his skull and everything went black.

* * *

An angel carried him upwards, and Jeff felt free as he floated away.

* * *

Thanks again for reading this and the loveLy reviews. Each one makes me smile, even during the grim exam period that is my life right now.

Dont forget about the poll on my profile, your opinions matter to me!


	10. Chapter 10

A 3 & 6 n

Angel C Ang !) arried

5 *+ A Carried & Carried

_him_ And Jeff. M. Pward

felt free. % £ carried him u^. $

~ Jeff An up up up m. an D Angel

¥ Upward. Jeff felt free.

* * *

an angel carried him upwards, but there are no angels now. Only black, and what is up? What is down?

"time to wake up goldilocks"

Eric is right. It's time to wake p.

* * *

"Commander? Commander!" the sound of a frantic Trent mixed with the intermittent blaring of an alarm siren in the darkened room, now lit only by red emergency lights, and occupied by two human bodies.

"Nick wake up!"

Time to wake up.

Jeff opened his eyes groggily, a sour taste in his mouth, he waited as his vision slowly went from bleary into focus, though still making little sense. He was looking at what appeared to be a door on the ceiling. The floor beneath him was hard, and as he tried to sit up his head swam and a sharp pain shot through his head. Some sort of restraints were wrapped around his waist, and as he slid free he realised they were arms. The commander lay unconscious behind Jeff, and he was coated from head to toe in shards of sparkling glass, lying in a pool of blood. The commander was attached to some sort of cord hanging from the ceiling. Jeff's stomach churned and he hastily scrambled to his feet, backing away.

"Nick! Please, if you're alive say something." The voice continued through the intercom.

"Hello," Jeff rasped quietly, before painfully clearing his throat and trying again. "it's me, Jeff, can you hear me?"

"Sterling, thank god you're okay. The solar storm destroyed the cameras and all the ship's electronics, so the anti-grav failed after we crashed. By all rights you should've been thrown out the window, you were headed that way at a rather high velocity before the feed cut out. Is Nick...?"

A cold hand wrapped around Jeff's heart as he looked at the still figure behind him.

"I - I'm not really sure, he's not moving, and he's covered in glass. I am too," Jeff realised as he looked at his shaking hands. "I think we did go through the window, oh my god am I dead? How do I know I'm not dead?"

"Well you don't really I guess, but if you are how would you describe death? Was there a boney guy in a hood with a scythe or..?"

Jeff leant against the wall and clutched his aching chest.

"Hey pilot, you suck at this, give me the mike. Pleeeeease? Give me the mike or I will hurt you. Do you want me to break this arm? Didn't think so. Hey Jeff it's me Rachel! Dav-sorry, flight lieutenant Akanu- is here too." Rachel's cheerful voice replaced the pilot's before David began speaking slowly, "Calm down Jeff, deep breaths. I can't get in the room because the electronic open has broken. I need you to open the door manually from the inside so we can get in to help you two. Okay, I'm going to give you a set of instructions, and I need you to follow them, I'll be leaving to get to the room you two are in but Rachel will be with you the whole time, okay?"

"You won't stop talking to me Rachel?" Jeff had talked to Rachel only a little, she stayed in her room a lot and had been planning to leave at the next planet the Warbler docked at. Other people on the ship complained she was intimidating and prickly, but Jeff kinda liked her, even if she was moody and sarcastic. He'd found out that they liked similar films, and they'd even bonded over a discussion about Star Wars, that ancient classic that had been remastered in over 20 different formats over the last 400 years. They'd mock argued about the merits of Han Solo versus Luke Skywalker for hours as they watched the original trilogy back to back.

"No, I'm here, i'll keep talking." Rachel promised, "Okay, David's brought up the instructions for me, here goes. First I need you to tell me your situation, where the Commander is and the position of any dangerous items. Have all the windows been sealed off?"

"Ok...the room is sideways, I'm standing on the wall which was a window, all the three windows have all been shuttered off with some sort of metal. Nick is- Nick is lying on the floor behind me. He's er, he's lying in a pool of blood. We're both covered in glass but he has some sort of cord going from the ceiling next to the door to where it's tied around his waist. And all the furniture has gone. Probably though the windows..."

"He must have caught you and used the cord to pull you back inside. It's an emergency measure designed to retract you back in the ship 30 seconds after its deployed, but it cuts out at the length of the room to prevent from hanging you. Quick thinking on his part, he must have known the shutters would be too slow to save you, I'm guessing he didn't know the anti-grav would fail though, or he wouldn't be unconscious..."

"Rachel can you tell Jeff what to do and stop rambling please?" Trent snarked in the background.

"Oh right sorry! Untie the cord from Nick, tie it to yourself and get up to the ceiling. There's a silver panel next to the door with lots of buttons on."

"You're joking right?" A smooth metal floor would not be easy to climb, even with the rubber cord and grippy white shoes the Alliance provided.

"If you tug the cord hard and then relax your grip it will reel you up more."

Jeff yanked the cord and then let go. The rope slowly wound back into the panel and Jeff grimaced in pain as his injuries protested at the exertion.

"Ok, I'm there Rachel. Now what?"

"Aww, look at you going all commanding, we should drive into solar storms more often if it'll bring you out of your shell Jeff!" Trent remarked. There was the distinct sound of a thud and a male yelp of pain, then Rachel returned to the intercom.

"Urgh, that pilot is so annoying! Right, first of all, anti-grav in the room needs to be switched back on. No use sending medics in to help if they're all just gonna fall and crack their skulls. You need to turn to silver dial to the right."

"Done." A whirring sound started and Jeff felt the tug of gravity fade, instead he now felt like he was swimming.

"Lights are the light switch above the panel. Duh, I know its obvious but you gotta check people know these things, in case you've had servants doing the lights for you cause you're the councillor's kid or something."

Jeff flicked the switch and on the wall to his left, which was originally the ceiling, the white LEDs flared into life.

"Okay Rachel,"

"Finally, I need you to push the blue button in the middle of the panel, that's the manual override for the door lock."

Jeff prodded the small blue square with his finger and leapt back as the door opened, floating backwards. Jack, Eddie and David were there waiting and dove into the room gracefully, navigating the air like professionals. Jack was even doing the backstroke, though judging by the sharp look Eddie gave him that was just showing off.

"No gravity is weird."Jeff remarked, bobbing up and down on the spot, holding on to the rope to maintain any control in the direction of his movement.

"No kidding," David remarked, untying Jeff and carrying him upwards into the corridor. Jeff craned his neck to see Eddie and Jack following with the prone body of their commander.

"No concussion, the larger wounds are stitched. Commander Duval will be fit for light work, with no heavy lifting, once he wakes up, and since he'll entirely ignore my advice to stay onboard I want you to make sure he takes care of himself on missions." Doctor Schuester smiled knowingly.

"Sure thing Doc, we'll haul his ass out the firing line quicker than you can say 'Jack is better at fighting anyway' so don't worry," Jack grinned.

"..."

"Okay guys, get out," Lieutenant Akanu ushered the group of protesting marines out the door.

"How are your ribs lieutenant?" The doctor enquired, turning a page on his clipboard as he inspected Nick's notes.

"They're fine, ill be fit for duty. Looks like I'm going to have a hell of a job keeping Nick and Jack in line, though Eddie will help no doubt."

"Corporal Edward Harwood has never missed a single regulation checkup, he seems to be in excellent shape, as is his brother Thad."

"Yeah well, you know Eddie, you can practically see yourself in his armour..." David laughed, "What about our guest how is he?"

Will leaned against one of the four pastel blue walls of the infirmary.

"He's fine, just a little shook up. It can't be easy for him at all being on this ship. Things have gotten even crazier than usual on the Warbler this week..."

David smirked.

"You're not kidding!"

* * *

Wes hung from one of the ceiling pipes, doing slow pull-ups.

"Show off!" Rachel cat called from the corner as she walked in.

Startled, Wes dropped several feet to the ground, landing in a crouch. In his black tank top and baggy pants, he radiated athleticism and danger, a feral glint in his dark brown eyes that disappeared almost immediately as he recognised the intruder and straightened up.

"So brazen, just walking straight into my lair." He waved a hand around the engine room.

"I bought some of those 'vitamin tablets' you mentioned."

"And?" He probed, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

"They suck. I feel like I'm walking around with a thick blanket over me, and cotton wool in my ears. How can you live with your senses so dulled? Still I guess it's worth it to escape Quinn."

"I'm not sure you'll be escaping any time soon. The Warbler took heavy damage crashing back down to Mars. We don't even know where we are, just that it's not populated for miles in any direction so we're going to have trouble getting parts for making her flight worthy again. As for the commander, he's also taken quite the hit. We'll be here longer than we expected, that's for sure."

Rachel sighed.

"I've never seen a solar storm so strong before, typical. At least the distress beacon activated. In the meantime I can get you and David together!"

"How many times do I have to say no?!" Wes growled over the clanking of gears and whirring of machinery in the metallic room.

"But you _like_ him, and he likes you! It's perfect. I'm an excellent matchmaker, I know when a couple just has to happen." Rachel plonked herself down on the steel floor.

"You're so infuriating. You and I have... A 'condition' that makes it harder for us to fit in with the rest of society. Have you thought about the fact I'd never be able to be fully honest with Lieutenant Akanu about who and what I am? I have crushed skulls _in my bare hands_. He wouldn't understand, he'd just think I'm a monster."

"If you're a monster then I'm a monster, and he knows Quinn and I are CrossSpecs."

Wes stared, his face somewhere between gobsmacked and infuriated.

"You told an alliance space marine that you were an illegal transhuman?! Are you _insane_? He should have had you arrested, maybe even executed! How come he's still in contact with you? You've risked his life and his job by telling him that!"

"I saved his life, I didn't really have a choice. Someone was about to shoot him, he was unarmed and unarmoured. I took the bullet and used a sound wave on the guy with the gun, and he helped me rescue the Drar King's child from my sister Quinn. That's why hopefully i'll be able to leave on Saturn. I have a lot of contacts there thanks to that. And before you ask, yes they know that Quinn and I are Drar CrossSpecs."

"How have you survived for more than a week? You're completely reckless. I've seen more self-preservation in rats. " Wes sighed.

"Natural talent and sheer ambition. I'm the best at controlling sound waves amongst all the Drar CrossSpecs I've seen, and I'll only get better with age and practice. One day I will be the most respected and feared CrossSpec in the galaxy."

"And so modest too..."

**meanwhile...**

"You're awake!" David smiled at the dark haired commander.

"Is Jeff okay?" Nick asked, hurriedly sitting up.

"He's fine, he's fine, just worried about you." The lieutenant reassured him, "you must have acted fast to save him, I thought for sure he was a goner."

"My comcuff activated the anti-grav in time to stop me, but not Jeff, going out the window. I delayed the shutter lockdown, released the safety cord, swam out after him and pulled him back into the ship. We were back inside and fine, the shutters went down, and then the anti-grav failed and we fell to the floor. Last thing I remember there was a glass table heading towards me at a pretty high velocity, so I shielded Jeff with my body..."

David perched himself on the white sheets of the thin bunk Nick reclined in.

"You saved his life. Twice. You even used yourself as a human shield for him. Have you considered that-"

"No. Not at all."

"There's something else I need to tell you Commander. As you know, Captain Smythe was still in the city of Thar taking leave when Trent decided to move into orbit. We have been unable to contact him. The Tharon you brought onboard the ship s nowhere to be found, but there are claw marks near one of the hull breaches. We believe he may have tried to hang on to something and been thrown off the ship when the anti-grav failed. I'm sorry."

"Ziss is... No, if anyone could survive it would be him. He _has_ to be alive." The commander shook his head, a stubborn set to his mouth, and David decided to leave the topic for now. There was no doubt in his mind that the alien was dead, it's body long since gone.

Doctor Schuester returned, his hair dishevelled, and a white lab coat adorned with the alliance logo over a pastel blue sweater vest and white shirt. The doctor requested the lieutenant give the commander time to leave, and so David promised he'd come back later. Until then, with Sebastian still in Thar doing god knows what, it was XO Flight Lieutenant Akanu who was in charge of the Warbler. The responsibility was at once exhilarating and crushing. He just hoped he didn't mess up too badly.


	11. Chapter 11

Sebastian wove through the throngs of well dressed people with ease. Dressed in a sharp black suit and tie, a small black mask (and as always wearing a smirk) he navigated the crowds of other similarly well dressed people, stopping only to grab a glass flute of champagne from a serving Tharon.

The current fashion amongst the wealthy was old-fashioned - hence the masquerade ball and the enormous ornate golden chandelier dominating the ceiling. On Mars the poor were very poor, and the rich...very rich. Hmm, he frowned, trying to think of a more sophisticated way to phrase that saying.

"Sebastian," a young man with a statuesque red haired woman hanging on his arm beckoned him over.

"Jesse." Sebastian firmly clasped hands with him.

"I'm surprised to see you here, thought you were all holed up on the Alliance ship." Jesse's mouth curled up at both corners but his eyes remained cold.

"It's still my ship Jesse, and once it's term is up ill have it back, refurbished and better than ever, with a hefty addition to my bank balance, so what have you been doing little brother." He saw the redheaded mouth 'Captain?!' and winked at her, smirking at the blush flooding her cheeks.

_ Sorry, you're not my type sweetheart. _

His type was a little more... Commander Duval. With his wealth, looks and power Sebastian Smythe was well aware he could get most people he wanted. When the commander came on board he'd played his usual flirting game, but gradually grew more and more frustrated at the spacer's complete disinterest in him. It was one of very few times Sebastian had not gotten what he wanted. He hated it.

"I've been working on developing the diamond here on Thar, we're nowhere near as extensive as our host's business on this planet, but we're expanding rapidly. I believe Lord Clarington is now interested in joint enterprise with us."

"Mother and Father will be pleased with your work I'm sure." Sebastian began, when a diminutive waiter grabbed his wrist and started talking in a reedy voice.

"Many apologies Captain Smythe, the master wants to see you."

Jesse nodded in his brother's direction, an annoyed tension in his posture that no doubt only Sebastian had noticed, and he and his companion walked away, the redheaded craning her neck to look back at Seb as they disappeared into the crowd to mingle with others.

"You never told me your brother was a Captain!" He heard her awed tones and snickered under his breath.

_Sorry Jesse, looks like you're still no match for me! _

Downing the rest of the champagne in his glass in one, he placed it on the waiter's tray and headed upstairs into a dimly candlelit corridor, brushing imaginary dust from the shoulders of his impeccably tailored suit.

"Ah, I love these parties." He murmured to himself, grinning.

"Arrogance has always been an un attractive trait of the Smythe family." Sebastian turned sharply just to see a man in grey slam an iron pipe into the side of his head.

* * *

"Are you awake Captain Smythe?"

Sebastian wrinkled his nose at a repulsive odour as he woke, the feeling of a rough sack over his head rubbing against face. His wrists were bound together behind him, and he shifted on an uncomfortable chair but couldn't make it move.

_Oh boy. This is BAD. _

"Urgh, this place smells like a sewer!" He vocalised none of his fear out loud.

_Act cocky. Don't let them sense weakness. _

"Captain Smythe. I was told you were a troublesome one." The haughty voice held a strong old British accent.

_They know who I am. Oh boy. _

"To whom do I owe the pleasure?" Sebastian said, fighting to keep his voice steady, "why don't you take this off my head so we can talk? My family have lots of money, they can pay you whatever you want."

"I'm not interested in your money," the voice growled "typical of people like you! Thinking you can just buy your way out of everything! No spine, no courage to stand up for something. It's the duty of those with money and power to make life better for the rest of the world, and families like yours have failed dismally."

"Oh, and I suppose you think the Claringtons are much better? And when my ship comes back for me, which it might have already done, they'll send out a message to the Alliance command and my father. They'll declare me missing and sooner or later ill be found."

"The Clarington family have allied theirselves with me, for the good of humanity. The Warbler won't be coming back to Thar any time soon. We took care of that. I'll be back later Captain Smythe, I did enjoy this conversation." A dark chuckle echoed through the room, and he heard retreating footsteps clicking away.

_What do I do?_

Sebastian raged internally, alone in the dark.

* * *

"Hey Jeff how you feeling?" Rachel chirped, perched on the end of Jeff's bed.

"I'm ok, Dr Schuester said my wounds will stay stitched as long as I don't move around much, how's Nick?"

"He just woke up a couple hours ago. We didn't tell him you were injured but I doubt the Doc will be able to stop him getting up to see you for much longer."

Jeff found a tissue on his bedside table and started to methodically shred it.

"Hey, no one's mad at you okay? You can't help being thrown out a window!" Rachel said, patting him awkwardly on the shoulder.

"I know, I just feel terrible. David is really stressed at the minute and the ship is crash landed in the middle of nowhere without a captain or a commander now."

"It'll be fine, we sent out a distress call - eventually the Alliance will come pick us up, all we can do now is look for nearby settlements and see if they've got any ship parts or seen Zthisulio."

"Do these storms happen a lot?" Jeff asked, placing the pile of tissue fragments back on his bedside table.

"No, that's the scary thing, we normally get a few days warning from the weather section of Sun Analysis Geographical Department if a spot on the sun's surface gets a build up of magnetic activity, they handle weather warnings in space. This solar storm came without warning and it was freakishly strong. The emergency power shouldn't have been fried, it's supposedly storm proof. To be honest we're lucky there was only a few casualties, Trent managed to land the thing using residual power once we'd fallen through the atmosphere. "

The door opened and David walked in, looking grim.

"David?" Rachel asked, rising to her feet.

"I tried to get him to stay but he wouldn't listen, and he does technically still outrank me so I couldn't refuse him." the Lieutenant sighed "we should leave."

Nick poked his head round the door.

"Hi," he said as he hobbled in, covered head to toe in bandages much like Jeff.

"Hey," Jeff said awkwardly, what do you say to someone who saved your life?

"So, we made it through the storm." Nick suddenly hissed and clutched his chest, Jeff shot out of bed and wrapped an arm around his waist, helping him to sit on the bed.

"Thanks for saving me," Jeff murmured.

"It wasn't a problem Jeff, we're sworn to look after you whilst you're under the Warbler's protection, remember?"

"And is that really why you did it?" Jeff surprised himself with the bold question.

Nick's comcuff flashed and Trent's voice echoed from it.

"Commander Duval! Alliance ships have arrived, Lieutenant Akanu says head to the boarding ramp and meet up with him there. They've dropped a load of personnel on the ground, their ETA is two minutes."

"I'll see you later Jeff." Nick rose unsteadily to his feet and slowly staggered out the door and away.

* * *

There were twenty armed Alliance marines with the leader in front, who took off his helmet as they approached. His brown hair was carefully gelled, his eyebrows arched upwards, that and the wide mouth curled up into a smirk gave an impression of arrogance. He reminded Nick of Sebastian, but at least Sebastian had a mischievous glint in his eyes. The newcomer's eyes were cold, like a shark's.

"I'm Commander Duval, this is Flight Lieutenant Akanu."

"What's your status?" The other marine asked, ignoring David's proffered hand.

"Hull breached, electrical systems damaged. We're running on emergency power, but our engineers have nearly got the main power back online, we just need a few parts for repairs. We're also looking for a crew member who was thrown off the ship during the crash, a Tharon Saar named Zthisulio." Nick answered professionally.

"We have the parts to repair your ship. We won't be searching for the Tharon, as soon as the Warbler is operational we will be resuming patrol."

"With all due respect sir, this ship is under the jurisdiction of Capta-"

"Captain Smythe. Yes, I have the papers releasing him from command. I've been appointed as his replacement." To Nick's dismay they were genuine.

"Believe me, I'm as annoyed as you, do you think I want to be in a charge of a ship with a bunch of homosexuals kept in the far reaches of space for being such embarrassments to their countries?"

Nick clenched his fists and when David spoke it was with forced calm.

"And what should we call you...sir?"

"Hunter Clarington. I'm the new captain of the Warbler. And I'm not even remotely bi-curious."

* * *

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You're awesome (especially my two top reviewers - you know who you are ;D)

May have to change the name of the terrorists if this stuff with the EDL doesn't calm down. Typical, I call a group the GDL having never heard of this group and now they're everywhere and I feel disrespectful If I mention them.

reviews make me happy :) so if you wanna make me happy you know what to do!

and don't forget to vote on your favourite pairings in the poll on my profile! :)

Have an awesome day!


	12. Chapter 12

No one could deny the new Captain was efficient. Captain Clarington paced the ship all day long, overseeing the repairs and making sure no one was slacking. Reduced lunchtimes and no breaks through the day, coupled with shorter allotted sleeping hours, drove the crew mad nearly. Hunter refused to allow any personnel off the ship, not even the still-recuperating Commander Duval, or acting Commander Akanu. Soon the Warbler would be ready to take flight once more, thanks to the materials and extra manpower of the 10 new crew members Captain Clarington had arrived with.

Nicholas Duval remained confined in his quarters, the new Captain making the decision that the Commander shouldn't risk injuring himself further. Right now he was sitting on the bath trying to shave in a small mirror, when he should be out there stopping Hunter from taking over his ship.

"Don't worry Commander, ill be maintaining a much more hands on role than Smythe did. You won't have to deal with running the ship anymore." Hunter had sneered.

Nick looked down as he felt a sharp pain in his left hand and hurriedly unclenched both his fists, the left from around his razor, which had left three perfectly straight thin horizontal lines of blood on his palm. Cursing, he kicked the bathroom door open and flung open the top drawer in his bedside cabinet, grabbing a roll of cloth, he hurriedly tore a strip off with his teeth and wrapped it around the cuts, now overflowing with blood, tying it off messily.

People could never understand why Nick preferred not to use synthetic repair treatments for small injuries - just a few seconds and the pain and cuts would be gone. Nowadays synthetic skin repairs were used by pretty much everyone, including the doctors in the Warbler's Medbay, and Nick appreciated the technology used to patch up his bullet wounds, but always argued that it felt wrong somehow to use it on something so small that would heal naturally anyways.

"Commander?" There was a set of loud, rapid knocks on his door and Nick hurriedly pulled on a white t-shirt (embroidered with the Alliance logo, like every other goddamn article of clothing on this ship. Jack once asked if the 'bigwigs thought they were going to forget which side they were on, thank god we have our track suits to keep us in line huh?') before using the remote on his bed stand to open the door.

Jack and the Harwood twins, Thad and Eddie, entered their commander's lair cautiously.

"Corporals, and Lieutenant," He greeted Jack, Eddie and Thad uncertainly "how's Jeff?" The words slipped out of his mouth before he'd had a chance to think them through.

"No idea, he's not allowed out of his cabin. Supposedly 'for his own safety'." Jack snorted, and Thad turned to glare at the redhead.

"We just came to see how you were doing, it can't be too long till Doctor Schuester declares you fit for service now." Eddie added, trying to stop Jack from talking but it was too late.

"Nick you need to get back out there ASAP. The new captain is a major slave driver, no one can stand him. And he just looks down on us all! You won't believe..." Jack launched into a five minute long, increasingly passionate rant, until he finally ran out of breath and stopped, red in the face.

"He's not that bad," Thad interjected quietly "a bit of discipline never hurt anyone."

Nick decided to interrupt a glaring Jack before he opened his mouth again and a fight broke out.

"Guys you're just going to have to put up with him, there's nothing I can do. At least we've been assigned to stay on Thar, once we fly back there we'll have clearance to dock, and we won't have to stay cooped up on this ship."

"But aren't you going to be in command of the ship again? Sebastian never used to boss us around. In fact he never really did much at all." Jack moaned.

Hunter's smug words echoed in his ears.

"Guys...I think the Captain is going to be getting involved of the running of the ship a lot more from now on." Jack and Eddie's faces fell.

Nick had never thought he'd actually miss Sebastian.

* * *

Sebastian lay on the hard stone floor and hummed tunelessly to himself under his breath, the drone echoing in the dark cave. The constant dripping of water and perpetual darkness denied him any knowledge of the passing of time. He could have been here three days, he could have been here three weeks. By this stage he was past caring.

_I just want this to be over. _

They'd untied him from the chair one day (or night) and started bringing him food and water, but his hands were still bound and he was still stuck in this cave.

_Where are you Nick? Surely the Warbler is coming to save it's captain? _

He sighed as he heard footsteps and pushed himself up into a sitting position - no mean feat with your hands tied together behind your back - but at least learning to do that had kept him occupied for a while. Exploring the cave in the pitch black with a sack over his head was quickly given up on, after a particularly nasty gash to the leg.

"Captain Smythe." The voice was filled with false warmth, as if they were greeting an old friend, not their prisoner "we brought you some company, in case you were lonely."

There was a thud, and a male grunt of pain, and Sebastian felt someone's arm on his leg as they were thrown down.

"Have fun, you'll be joined by a very familiar face soon." The voice called as the footsteps began to recede.

"Oh yeah," Sebastian tried his best to sneer, "my crew may have something to say about it, their leader is Commander Duval, and you'd better remember his name because he will be coming to get me."

The steps paused and there was a distant chuckle.

"Oh Sebastian, Nick coming to get you is exactly what I'm counting on."

* * *

Acting Commander David Akanu had only been summoned to the Captain's quarters on the Warbler once before - a year ago, on the first day he came aboard. It hadn't changed at all, the mahogany desk, deep beige carpet and dark wood-panelled walls just as ostentatious as ever. Holographic maps flickered on the wall, new screens flashing up from time to time in red. The new captain swept them to the side of the room with an absent wave of his hand, before spinning the globe in the desk as he reclined on a leather backed chair.

"Do you know why I called you here, Lieutenant?"

"No Sir."

Hunter leaned back even more.

"I've been doing a performance review on this crew and I've decided it's time for a reshuffle. Corporal Thad Harwood has an excellent service record, you would agree?"

David nodded.

"Definitely. The First Lieutenant has excellent credentials. I know Nick referred him for a promotion to Lieutenant Commander a few months ago."

"It's been passed. Video feeds from crew member helmets show excellent results on several ground side missions. I've decided to have him replace you as Acting Commander."

Stunned, Lieutenant Akanu just stared at the Captain for a few seconds before regaining his composure.

"Understood Sir. Would you like me to inform him?"

"He's known since the day after I came on board." David felt like he'd taken a blow to the gut. Had Thad really known this and said _absolutely nothing for a week?! _

"Oh but you can inform the crew that we will be heading to the town of Erridan on Saturn as soon as the ship is flight worthy. A rogue faction have split off from the Galactic Defence League. We've been ordered to exterminate them and collect all their research."

"I thought we were to remain on Thar?"

"Are you questioning my authority Lieutenant?"

"No sir."

Hunter's sinister grin widened.

"Good, then we won't have any problems."

David left and as he closed the door Hunter reopened the screen. A man in a brown uniform with missing teeth greeted him In a guttural voice.

"Hunter Clarington."

"Tom. Please inform our leader that I am heading to Erridan to get rid of the traitors soon. Everything is proceeding as planned."

"And the Councillor's son?"

"Will be ready for pickup on Erridan."

Everything was coming together rather nicely right now, Hunter smiled as he closed the screen and propped his feet up on Sebastian's desk.

Reviews make me happy so thanks again to those who did! Oh and don't forget about the poll on my profile :)


	13. Chapter 13

Okay so when I first wrote this up I planned to submit forms have it online for the 19th - my friend's birthday - but the more I looked at this chapter the more I hated it and no rewrite seemed to help as I got more frantic as the deadline approached then I missed it and justgave up on it, but I can't leave you all hanging forever, so I posted up this ultimate filler of filler chapters. Hopefully the next one is better.

* * *

Erridan was a technological marvel - a city contained inside a huge space station composed of several metal and glass cubes joined by hundreds of glass tubes of various lengths and sizes - floating over the gas giant planet of Saturn. As the Warbler II docked up Jeff could see people scurrying along those clear glass walkways, surrounded by space, as he watched standing behind Trent's chair.

Space was just so...big. Even now Jeff couldn't help but feel a little scared when he thought of how vast and empty space really was. If something happened to the Warbler in the middle of a journey they could possible never be found.

"Jeff are you ready?" David looked up in the navigator's seat to look at Jeff. Like Jeff, the Flight Lieutenant was in the white alliance uniform. Unlike Jeff, David would not be going ashore. Hunter was only taking a small party with him; Eddie, Jack, Rachel and Jeff. Rachel was going because she wasn't coming back. Jeff was going because... because Hunter wanted him there he guessed. And because the Captain knew it would annoy Nick.

Commander Duval was still stuck in his room, and with him gone and the new, interfering captain, the ship felt a much less friendly place to the Captain's son. Thad no longer wanted to play cards or sit and chat with the rest of them any more, and Eddie was much quieter, David also so a lot of the time it was up to Jack to keep conversations going now, mostly by complaining until someone snapped at him to shut up. Wes and Rachel spent a lot of time talking seriously in hushed voices, occasionally one of the two would look over at David, or check to see how long until the Warbler reached Erridan. Both had also become more withdrawn. As a consequence of this, Jeff had started spending more time in the cockpit with Trent, the only one still consistently cracking jokes. An obnoxious pilot was a much better alternative to a lonely night in his room or an awkward silence sitting with the crew. There was a Nick shaped hole in everyone's life at the minute.

"Jeff? Are you gonna answer David or are you just gonna keep drooling like a zombie?" Trent shouted.

"Oh sorry," Jeff said, blinking.

"Captain Clarington wants the shore party to report to the airlock." Jeff realised everyone's Comcuffs were displaying the message in green holographic writing.

"I'll see you soon David." he turned to go.

"Jeff...just be careful okay?" David called after him and he paused to look back at the two - the Lieutenant's somber expression contrasted with his pilot's wide grin.

"Bye Jeff!" Trent waved at him "don't die! Bring me back a cheeseburger?"

Shaking his head and smiling Jeff headed down to the airlock, a room slightly shorter than wide, on the starboard side of the ship. Lockers containing specialised environmental gear for unusual conditions lined one wall, maps and a large holographic screen the other. Hunter was already there in his custom armour. Once the rest group walked in, all fully armoured except for Jeff, the Captain sealed the door leading into the room from the ship by pressing a blue button. When he pressed the green button next to it there was a small hiss and the outside door opened upwards inch by inch, in an agonisingly slow few seconds. Eventually the atmospheres were equalised and the door rapidly swing out and up to reveal the docking bay.

The docking bays in Errodan were all on the top level of the cube they were in, and they were simply a long wide straight silver platform with several electromagnetic clamps for ships on the sides. thin bars of the magnetic metal ran perpendicular to the platform, the overall appearance leading to the nickname of "Spines" for the Erridan docking bays.

The space marines departed slowly and leisurely, whilst Captain Clarington strode off to talk with a docking bay coordinator who had been waiting for them apparently.

Jack and Eddie led Jeff to the opposite edge of the platform, initially scared of falling off the edge, he was pleased to discover a ceiling high glass wall bordered the Spine, only breaking for gaps for ship clamps.

"Go on, look over the side Jeff, it's always amazing the first time you see Erridan from 3000 feet up!" Jack slapped him on the back and he staggered forward and looked out over the city.

Jeff gaped.

Green LED lights ran up the side of incredibly densely packed thin skyscrapers with roofs tapering to a steel point, the entire city was almost entirely composed of these needle-like structures almost reaching the bottom of the docking bay platform. On the ground level swarms of people - from this height smaller than the size of ants but helpfully his Comcuff magnified the image for him - elbowed and shoved their way through narrow alleys, grimy streets and neon signs like a sea of black dots.

"Welcome to 2409 Hope boy, how does it compare to your backwater little hamlet?" Jack grinned at him as Jeff just continued to stare, his mouth wide open.

* * *

Happy late birthday Laura!

(thanks to AddieNiffler and Riley's Hell Princess as always!)


End file.
